Nine of twelve

Everyone in the world knows that the Twins will not match the highest offer. So it's not in the best interest of the team to wait a long time to see what the other offers are. About the only leverage the Twins have would be Correa's desire to play here (depending, of course, on whether that is the case and how strong and sincere that desire is). I don't know what the best way is to exploit that but making offers to other FA SSs early in the process might tip the playing field in the team's favor at least a little.

I was in Ft. Myers at the end of October. Even after one month of recovery efforts there was still a mountain of work to do. The beaches have been devastated. It's going to take a long time. The organization is fortunate that their facility survived with so little damage.

And could we just have that happen once or twice every year?

I'm sad to see Urshela leave but it needed to happen. To me it's obvious that the Twins view Miranda as their 3B for the next few years at least. I think Kirilloff will log a lot of time at 1B. I have been saying for a while now that I think Arraez should be DHing most of the time. So let's use some of that $9M toward a SS and/or some pitching.

I would love to have the 2019 Nelson Cruz on the roster. The 2023 Nelson Cruz? No.

Home whites: satisfactory, a bit of an improvement over the previous home whites. I think using navy for the number on the front to provide contrast with the red script is a good choice. (I still see T u π n s on the script, but it's OK, I'll adjust.) Home blue jersey: I like the white block MINNESOTA on the front better than the red script of the previous navy jerseys. I like the red number on the front. Alternate cream home uniform: I think I like this the best of the five uniforms revealed today. It's a good complement to the other two home options and the all-navy trim helps to give it a retro look that doesn't look dated. Road grays: a definite step up from the previous road grays. I like the understated pinstripes; they add a bit of sharpness without making the uniforms look too busy and it helps to differentiate us from the Guardians' and the Atlantas' road grays. Road blue jersey: It's the same as the home blue jersey, right? That's fine with me. Caps: well, I guess I can grudgingly go along with the new M if the team feels it's something they just have to do. I hope it eventually becomes the less-used alternate to the standby navy cap with the white T and the red C. The all-white TC looks right with the alternate home cream. And I am very happy that the red jerseys, the powder blue uniforms, and the Kasota gold trim are no longer with us. The team never looked like the Twins in red jerseys. It's just not right, sort of like if the Yankees decided to have green jerseys or something like that. I suppose the powder blues could be worn from time to time if there's a 1970's bad fashion theme night or something like that, but only very occasionally at most. One detail that we didn't see today is the socks for players who wear pants above the ankles. It appears that the socks for the alternate home cream uniform are solid navy with no stirrups. I strongly approve. I hope the socks for the other uniforms are the same. No need for stripes or anything else down there.

On the scrap heap of history where they belong, I hope.

I feel bad for Twins fans but even more so for Sano that his potential was only intermittently realized during his tenure with our favorite team. And I agree that the question asked at the top of the opening post is a bit out of line. Kind of like filling out a customer satisfaction survey that asks, "How disappointed were you in your experience with us today?" So I wanted to include a video of this high point in his career. For me this was the moment when the Twins locked up the AL Central in 2019. And based on pitcher Nick Goody's reaction I think the same was true for him. And Terry Francona too.

The save as a statistic didn't become official until 1969, following the start of the trend of using a designated closer in the 1960's. I think the trend of moving away from that strategy is going to continue and for that reason the save statistic is going to become less and less useful in telling us which relief pitching performances are the most important. Remember when GWRBI was an official stat in the 1980's? It was based on the same criterion that determined the winning pitcher: it was the RBI that gave the team a lead for the remainder of the game. Turns out it wasn't a very useful stat so its official status was discontinued. I can easily foresee the save going the same way. What would be more revealing is to use a formula of some kind to weigh the game situation into a reliever's performance to produce something akin to WAR or WPA. It could even take into account factors like whether your opponent is a division rival close to your team in the standings or whether it's a game in early April as opposed to an elimination game in the last week of the season

It is understandable why teams designated closers for so many years. The consistency of the same pitchers working the same innings helped pitchers prepare for individual games. But this approach didn't take into account the most important thing, something Tom Kelly is famous for saying: put players in situations where they are most likely to succeed. This means you set up your pitching so that you don't have your fourth-best reliever facing the opposition's best hitters, no matter what inning it is. Use your best reliever in the most important situations.

Chief appears to be saying the Twins have not had satisfactory success with their current strategy, so therefore the strategy is bad. MLR appears to be saying that there is evidence that Twins' lack of satisfactory success is not necessarily because the strategy is bad, it's also possible that Twins management is not executing the strategy well enough. Is that about right?

The performances of approximately 15 other teams at or below average revenue. I'm not taking a position in this discussion, I'm simply answering your question.

Yeah, it's too bad that Pressly didn't pitch up to his talent level while he was here, for whatever reason. And certainly as of now Houston has won that trade. Keep in mind we still have to see how Alcala and Celestino do for their careers before we make a full evaluation. But even if they do pan out well we could/should have gotten more than we did considering it was a deadline sell.

I would expect that Correa is totally at peace with the situation. He has to be very aware of Pena's skill level and the difference in salary between the two of them. I'm sure he realized long ago that this is how he would leave the Astros.

Preposterous. This will have no effect whatsoever on his decision. First, we all know that this affects only about half of his earnings. Players pay income tax based on where games are played. Second, if the highest offer exceeds the second highest offer by even just a little that makes up for any difference in taxes. Third, the team itself and how it is expected to perform is a high priority, if not the highest priority, for almost all free agents. Fourth, there are only 5 teams located in a state with no income tax: Miami, Tampa Bay, Houston, Texas, and Seattle. I don't think any of those teams would be considered a likely destination for Correa.

It looks cream to me also, as opposed to gold. I hope the home unis will follow suit, cream instead of white or powder blue or red. Regarding the blue, this is not 1977. We don't look like the Twins wearing red.

I'm quite confident the Twins will make an offer. I'm just as confident it will not be the best offer Correa receives.

If I ran a MLB team the Head Trainer's responsibilities would include defining the culture.

There are elite catchers who are not elite hitters. There are elite hitters who are not elite catchers but are able function acceptably in the position. What is rare is elite catchers who are elite hitters. They come along only rarely. Without doing extensive research I bet there haven't been more than a dozen or so in the history of MLB. We were very fortunate to have seen the most recent specimen of this rare breed playing for our favorite team. There will be another such player in the future who will catch and win a batting title. Someday.

My unscientific, unresearched opinion (in other words, my guess) is that more and more players are pushing themselves (or being pushed) closer and closer to the physical limitations of the human body. Hence a higher number of injuries and injuries that are more serious.

OK, I concur. That wasn't clear to me in your post that I originally cited.

I think we are in agreement. As I said, I think he should be spending as much of the team's money as is required to optimize the roster. And whatever cut he himself takes from the team's profits should be considered to be part of that. But because you referenced the owner's personal wealth it can be inferred that you feel the team's money could or should be supplemented with his personal wealth as well.

And I'm not suggesting that you were suggesting it. As I said, I think he should spend as much of the team's money as possible to optimize player talent. I just wanted to express the thought.

I have never decided how I feel about this. To me he should be spending whatever it takes of the team's money to get the most talent. But whether he has a billion dollars or a hundred dollars, I don't think he should be obligated to take money out of his own pocket, the vast majority of which did not derive from earnings as the team's owner, just because he has it and fans want him to. Doing so would create a lot of good will and presumably make the team more competitive, and I'm not saying it is or isn't the right thing to do, but it's not our right to insist that he give away his own money.

No matter which other teams make offers, it's highly unlikely that the Twins' offer will be the one Correa accepts.