SomeGuy

Adrianza and Gonzalez are set to be Free Agents after this season. Gordon could have a shot in the utility player(s) competition for 2021.

What is his trade value though? He has been fading from the prospect lists, Fangraphs moved him all the way down to 35th in our system. They could include him as a supplementing piece of a bigger package or trade him for another fringe prospect at a different position that isn't as blocked.

When you are allowing 7 of 15 teams into the playoffs I think you can expect mediocre teams in the playoffs every season. They might not be sub .500 teams very often but I think teams will start to think if they only have to pay for a .500 team then fans will be happy because they made or almost made the playoffs. It sounds like a Pohlad dream scenario. I wonder if Manfred's desire to get MIke Trout into the playoff spotlight had anything to do with this proposal.

Apply the rule to 2017 and 2 sub .500 teams are in the playoffs. That is gross. At least they would have had to settle a 3 way tie of 80-82 teams. Cleveland 102-60 Houston 101-61 Boston 93-69 NYY 91-71 Twins 85-77 KC 80-82 LAA 80-82 Rays 80-82

I do appreciate the irony that we went from saying the Giants sent us damaged goods in Sam Dyson to complaining that the Red Sox wouldn't accept what we insist is a healthy player.

I don't know if Selig is the best example of someone to dole out punishment. He did everything he could to ignore the PED issue.

"However, there’s a marked difference between truly damaged, injured baseball players—especially pitchers—and merely risky ones. I would argue the difference is one of kind, not of degree, and that the ability of one team to apply their own prognoses to subjective medical data after a trade has been agreed upon is unfair to the other party in said trade and to the player himself." Since none of the teams announced the trade and it was not official then how can we accuse the Red Sox of doing anything wrong? The issue is probably with the way this was reported. Everyone ran with it before it was official and looked silly when it fell through. Not because of the Red Sox but because of the way this was reported, millions of people formed their 1st opinion of Graterol and unfortunately it was as damaged goods. This website alone had like 5 articles about Maeda being a Twin before the deal was official. The deal got to the pending physicals part and the Red Sox didn't like what they saw. They have every right to do what they did. It would be terrible if we held teams to decisions prior to the medical reviews. They absolutely have the right to have their own staff go over the history and make their own conclusions. It is unfair to say they are wrong in their conclusions. Your argument is "we think he is okay so you are required to feel the same way"? Up next we will look at why players can't ask a second opinion before surgery.

I think it was a fail safe for if he didn't transition well but as the years went on they utilized that more. It seemed to be their plan to replace him at the deadline. He was strictly a member of their rotation to start these seasons but as he performed worse he started less. He would start the season as a legitimate option. If we take it month by month for his career I think the Dodgers were planning for this decline the last few seasons. They were either lucky in their contract structuring or had at least some idea that he might not hold up to full seasons of starting. mar/apr 3.97 ERA may 3.67 June 2.83 July 4.40 August 4.50 September 3.99 (mostly out of the bullpen)

I'm a little concerned with Maeda. There is the weird usage with the Dodgers. Will he hold up in a full season of a starting role? Was that only done because they had too many capable pitchers or was it by design to ease his workload? Judging by the contract structure, that was their intent all along to have him in that split role. There is also the switch to the AL. I'm not convinced he will be anything more than a mid 4's ERA guy with us. He already shows signs of wearing down as the season goes on. The Dodgers had him entirely out of the bullpen in September the last 2 season. That could just be to pay him less but the numbers support that decision. 2019 pre all-star game 3.76 ERA 17 games 17 starts July 5.11 ERA 6 games 5 starts August 4.26 ERA 5 games 5 starts September 3.45 ERA 10 games 0 starts 2018 Pre all-star game 3.12 ERA 18 games 16 starts July 3.86 ERA 5 games 4 starts August 5.74 ERA 6 games 2 starts September 4.22 ERA 12 games 0 starts We don't really know what we lost with Graterol but Maeda seems like a question mark as well. Steamer updated their projection to 150 innings of 4.63 ERA with the Twins for what its worth.

I would think Mike Fiers is the one who will lose clubhouse credibility from it. I wouldn't tell him any secrets if he was my teammate. He broke Omerta.

Unless the method used wasn't exclusive to home games.... The possibility presented by the electronic device conspiracy would pretty much enable anyone to do this anywhere. You could have someone in the stands sending signals directly to the batter etc. There is nothing to implicate the Twins but like PEDs it can be fair to wonder about things outside the known violations.

How do we know we weren't cheating is what he is saying. The Red Sox improved on the system in 2018 by eliminating the not so subtle trashcan approach the Astros used. For all we know Gonzalez found a new way too. It is believed that using tech to steal signs was more wide spread than 2 teams. He is just raising the question that maybe Marwin brought ideas of how to do that. Nothing suggests this actually happened but it could have happened. The Astros got away with it and we only found out because of a rat. Pretty much every player admits that if they can steal the other teams signs they will. So i don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that the Twins did but it is unlikely. Finding out that at a minimum 2 of the last 3 world series were won by teams cheating but not learning about it until well after the fact suggests how easy it is to get away with this.

An interesting note before saying that Marwins 2017 was solely a result of cheating, we know that the trashcan usage began mid season. Below are Marwin's splits for 2017. 1st half .308/.391/.576, wRC+ 160, BABIP .338 2nd half .299/.363/.485, wRC+ 128, BABIP .348 May was by far his best month with an insane .382/.461/.737, wRC+ 217 https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/texas-sports-nation/astros/article/How-the-Astros-cheating-scandal-played-out-14972308.php

We haven't seen anything suggesting that it was used on the road and I'm not sure how easily that could have been done. Personally I doubt they used the system on every pitch of every home game anyway because that would seem too obvious. If the batter can hear the trashcans then the pitcher and catcher probably can too. Some pitcher or catcher would have caught on if trashcans were hit every time an offspeed pitch was called. We have no idea how often it was used but I'm guessing it was less than people think. Probably key moments of key games. A couple of caveats to the Ryan Pressly bit, his ERA was 6.11 before the May Home games against Houston, he was already in a poor stretch. I really doubt the Astro's used this system continuously throughout games when they were thrashing an opponent like those 2 games against the Twins (16-8 and 17-6), unless they wanted to get caught. He later pitched 2 scoreless outings in Houston for what its worth. According to the Houston Chronicles the sign stealing operation was not on a direct to batter level in May when Pressly got lit up by the Astros. Start of 2017 season: Employees in the Astros’ video replay review room begin using the live feed from the center-field camera to attempt to decode and transmit opponents’ signs. Astros bench coach Alex Cora begins to call the replay room to obtain sign information. Circa June 2017: A group of Astros players, including veteran Carlos Beltran, discuss improving the sign-stealing operation and communicating them directly to batters. The trash-can banging system to communicate pitches begins.

Darvish had one bad performance in Houston but that was directly after he had an equally bad outing in LA. It wasn't the first time he stunk it up in the post season either as he pitched poorly in his only 2016 playoff game as well. From my understanding it was beating on the trash can meant an offspeed pitch is coming, doesn't Darvish have like 8 offspeed pitches with differing velocity and movements? Then he got a big contract anyway, one the Cubs probably regret. There isn't a way to assess the scope that this caused but I don't think any pitcher lost a substantial amount in arbitration because of a few innings against Houston. Arbitration is more complicated then one bad outing causing a player to lose substantial amounts of money. And if we found any players that were actually sent down after playing houston at home, it probably wasn't going to hinge on that game. You don't tell a prospect "if you can't perform against the best offense in their home ballpark, then you don't have what it takes." IF there was even anyone sent down after playing them it was probably a depth move to begin with. The player to player effects are likely minimal (aside from the benefits the Astros saw in ARB and FA) and the only real concern is whether or not they would have won the WS without it.

Sports Illustrated had this tidbit indicating that at least 8 teams might have been guilty of this. In the kind of informational archeology reminiscent of The Steroid Era, baseball is learning what happens when “gaining an edge” pushes into new frontiers. Two sources familiar with the investigation, which lasted three months and included more than 70,000 e-mails and 60 interviews, said various Astros personnel told MLB investigators about eight other teams who used technology to steal signs in 2017 or 2018–such was the culture of the time. This reminds me of the Pineda pine tar incident where it was so painfully obvious that the league had no choice but to oppose it. They were probably telling him couldn't you just put it in your glove like everyone else.

It may not be accurate to position this development as the result of Minnesota’s disinclination toward spending at a certain level—rather, Donaldson may simply have another preferred destination in mind, with the Braves and Nationals reported as two other clubs that have made four-year offers. Miller’s sources indicate that Donaldson “has not appeared interested in signing with Minnesota, and the team has begun investigating other options.” -Trade Rumors

His AB weren't too low but I agree with your point about his injuries limiting his 2019 production a little. 2014 285 2015 344 2016 484 (2017 455) 2018 489 2019 425

Remove his 2017 season and he had a typical season last year. I don't really view him as a bounceback candidate, but a solid utility player. fWAR 2014 1.3 2015 1.5 2016 0.4 2018 1.5 2019 1.4 OPS 2014 .727 2015 .759 2016 .694 2018 .733 2019 .736 wRC 2014 37 2015 46 2016 53 2018 66 2019 56

They were in 1st place when one of those signings season ended with an injury.

"They basically won 72 games last year (69 pythag) with career years from Anderson, Moncada, and Giolito that could all see some regression. Expecting them to make the jump to the Twins level is unlikely. It’s not impossible, but they are nowhere close to being the “favorites” to win the central. An 18-win jump to get them to 90 wins is where I would put their ceiling for 2020 and honestly that should be the Twins floor." They got "career years" from players that are 26,24, and 25 years old. I think Breakout Season is a more accurate term for these 3 white Sox players than a career year in their 2nd or 3rd full seasons. Anderson, Moncada, and Giolito should be main cogs for them going forward. A lot of people are saying the Twins aren't done adding yet as the big reason why we shouldn't worry but are the White Sox done? They are still heavily connected to some pretty good outfielders and I wouldn't be surprised if they focus on their bullpen next. Seems like they are connected to more rumors than we are. I don't think the White Sox are favorites to win the ALC but the big wild card in this is their next potential breakout players like Luis Robert, Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, and Michael Kopech, etc. They still have a lot of players on their roster that have the "future star" projection. It seems likely that this group's progression will far outweigh any regression from last years breakouts. These are the players I worry about more than any they have or could add in Free Agency.

Hard to tell how many would be on board to transfer to this service. Seems like a lot of casual fans I know land on the Twins when nothing else is on cable. I just don't see that group of casual fans going out of the way to get the Twins game. What would happen with Wild games and all the other MN sports related content that FSN viewers want? Wouldn't this force everyone to decide what subscriptions they want more, Wild, Twins, Twolves, Gophers, etc. Seems more logical for FSN to make a subscription service tailored to all MN sports. Imagine how many people would abandon the service when the Twins aren't contending too. Or how many people would wait and see if the Twins are good before paying for the year. Would advertisers be okay with such a variable audience number? Plus FSN has 24 hour content, are the Twins going to pay for additional content like the Twins recap programs? Would bars even want this if they can only use it 3 hours a night during the summer. At least with cable they can leave it on FSN all night or switch to Sports Center, etc. I doubt the Twins are the ones to experiment with this model. Maybe someday MLB.tv can get around the local restrictions. Until then I think local cable cutters are out of luck (I am one of them).

I liked our deadline moves in 2018 and still like them now.

The Twins had a 20-12 (.625) record against the AL East. That is right in line with their .623 winning percentage. I think they would be okay. 2nd to the Yankees probably.

Toronto is still a 4th place team in ALE. I believe they will trade pending Free Agents like Giles and chase Anderson at the deadline when the Yankees, Red Sox and Ray's are ahead of them. Aside from Ryu all of their moves are geared towards 20-21. I dont see them making the playoffs in 2020 with the current group. They still have a ways to go. Reminds me of the Reds last year, cool that they want to put a decent team out there but they still aren't good. I think Bichette and Vald jr are forcing their hand when the rebuild wasnt complete.