Cody Pirkl

He rated better defensively than Adrianza at every position they both played. He's been a better offensive player than Adrianza every year of his career other than last year. He also led the team in slugging percentage in high leverage situations. I still don't understand this message everybody wants to send. Rich Hill chose to sign here with a player that cost him a World Series. Kenta Maeda was happy to be coming here even though Marwin cheated his way to a World Series MVP against him. The players can put it behind them, so why can't the fans? Would you be happy if we cut Marwin and ate $10.5m so the Indians could sign him for the league minimum and use the player we're paying to to try and dethrone the Twins? I only see downside if that's the route we take.

They just cleared out their training staff over the winter actually.

Defensive value goes beyond range, which is why he outperformed all of them last season. We have the depth to replace him internally to some extent, but the front office isn't going to pay for him not to play here. You said it yourself, those are expensive shoes.

Hes typically a slightly above average hitter which is more than we can say about Adrianza or Astudillo and he has much better defensive metrics at any positions that any of Cave, Adrianza and Astudillo play (other than catcher)

It should be noted that while Ehire is versatile, the best DRS he put up at any position is 0. 2019 was also his first year in the big leagues putting up a wRC+ over 85. If I had a choice between the two to resign next offseason I'd say Ehire, but that's only because of the price difference for utility players.

Marwin Gonzalez made mistakes in 2017, as many Astros players did. Fans are rightfully angry with his actions that led to a career season at the plate. While some fans have made it known that they’d like to have seen the last of Marwin in Minnesota, that move would be a mistake. His career year may have been a mirage, but Marwin Gonzalez has a lot to offer this Twins team.Some uneasiness with Marwin Gonzalez lies in his contract. Some believe that the 2 year $21m the Twins gave Marwin were ill-gotten gains. He was coming off a season where he was worth 1.5 fWAR. His offense was slightly above average as he put up a triple slash of .247/.324/.409, good for a 103 wRC+. A far cry from his career year in 2017 in which he was 44% above league average. Fangraphs calculated the cost per WAR on the 2018 free agent market. At $6.8m per win, Marwin does look like a slight overpay just by looking at his numbers. However, a lot of Marwin’s value lies in the role he plays. The Twins brought him in without planning on giving him a starting job on opening day before Sano’s injury. They waited out free agency and snagged the best super utility player in baseball, a value that goes beyond numbers. If the Twins were paying Marwin for his 2017, that 4.0 fWAR would have been compensated much more handsomely. He would have had a starting spot from the day he was signed if the Twins believed he was that 2017 player. The fact of the matter is, the market identified Marwin’s 2017 as an outlier. The Twins weren’t fooled into offering this contract. In terms of performance, Marwin’s versatility is his main draw, as previously mentioned. Sano’s injury to begin the year made use of Marwin’s flexibility as he immediately slotted to fill in at third base. In addition, he played some first base in C.J. Cron’s absence, as well as the corner outfield spots, periodically spelling Rosario and Kepler as nagging injuries piled up. The nice thing about Marwin is that even with all of the spots he plays, he’s not just a body manning a position. At 1B he’s worth -2 defensive runs saved, at 3B he’s worth 4 DRS, and he’s a very strong outfielder with 7 DRS. It was a down year for Marwin on offense in 2019 with a 93 wRC+. He suffered through a miserable start to the season with a 33 wRC+ in March and April. He’s traditionally a slow starter with a career wRC+ of 85 over the first month of the season. He also was late to spring training in 2019 due to the late signing which can throw off a player’s preparation for the season. Marwin also had a 66 wRC+ in September which helped weigh down his offensive stats. To end the year, he was recovering from an oblique injury and was likely rushed back to fill in for the several other Twins injuries. He had a triple slash of .264/.322/.414, good for a 93 wRC+ and 1.4 fWAR. That’s an admirable line for a 10th man on a roster, but normal routine and good health may lead to improvement for Marwin in 2020. It was also an odd year for Marwin in the sense that he actually made improvements to his game. He had a career best hard hit %, average exit velocity, and highest launch angle, all better than his career year in 2017 where he allegedly knew which pitches were coming. Despite all of this, he put up his worst offensive numbers since 2016. If he can repeat these trends, I’d expect him to wind up with some much better looking offensive numbers to pair with the value he provides on defense. You don’t have to buy his jersey, but Marwin Gonzalez is still going to play a big role for the Twins in 2020. His apology may not be enough for some fans, but there has yet to be any proof of it being an issue in the clubhouse which now includes two players directly victimized by the actions of the 2017 Astros. Even in a down year in 2019, he was valuable beyond measure for the Twins. He’s poised to add more value to this talented roster with even a slight rebound. While Marwin Gonzalez will always be linked to 2017, don’t let his past keep you from recognizing his contributions in the present. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

MadBum was holding onto Oracle Park for dear life. That might be the number one pitcher's park in all of baseball, and MadBum had a 2.93 ERA at home. On the road? 5.29 ERA. Maeda had some favorable home/road splits as well, but he at least matches up for the Twins a bit better because of his effectiveness on righties which is most of the American league. I'd guess MadBum sees some tough effects of pitching in SF 1-2 times per year as opposed to 12-15.

I mistook his Fangraphs RF DRS for his CF haha. He's fallen off more than I thought.

It's also interesting to consider how other teams are building bullpens, look at Cleveland for example. Two of their top relievers are Adam Cimber and Oliver Perez. Both get absolutely demolished by opposite handed hitters, and having two relievers like this could easily lose Cleveland some tight games since both were used in one or two out situations last year. I said it back in December, Falvey and Levine have done a great job of getting "out getters" in this bullpen instead of spending money and roster spots on specialists.

From a sheer numbers standpoint, Maeda is a much better matchup if you're looking at facing off against the Yankees or Astros. His right handed splits would probably fare better than Ryu's style of left handed pitching. It's a small sample size but of 8 Yankee hitters Ryu has faced in his career, 4 of them have an OPS over 1000 against him. As for Graterol, there's so much depth in the bullpen that it's an easy move to make to cash in on the height of his value for starting pitching which is a bigger need. Raley never really had any path to playing time. His role was probably always based around being traded.

Don't forget that .535 OPS against righties for Maeda. That should translate to the Central and AL in general super well. I see red when people say we should have signed Bumgarner instead of trading for Maeda, so thank you very much for this Cooper.

Pillar still had more DRS in center than Kepler did. Kepler is a fantastic right fielder and about average centerfielder. To keep his defense in RF and slot Pillar into CF with 5 DRS and 2 outs above average makes for a better defense even with Pillar's aging drop. Pillar is declining but he was still a bit better than league average in CF even in the enormous outfield of Oracle park. My argument is basically that if you move Kepler over and slot Cave or Wade into RF, you downgrade two positions on defense instead of just one. We've got two open 40 man spots and not much of an urgent need to fill with that 26th roster spot. It wouldn't have been the end of the world to sign another right handed outfielder that can play a decent center field.

Reading through the comments I'm seeing people discredit Almora's ability to play CF. We can move Kepler from RF to CF if Buxton gets injured, but then he drops from a well above average defensive player to about average. Cave cannot play center, that's been proven time and time again. It's easier to bring in a specialist to play center if Buxton were to get hurt. That's why I wish we would have just signed Kevin Pillar instead of discussing trading for a backup center fielder. That being said, of Dobnak, Thorpe and Smeltzer, I think Smeltzer is the only one I'd consider giving up for Almora, and I definitely wouldn't add Littell or Stashak to that deal.

That's why I like Hardy, he matches up well against righties. The main thing to look for is a changeup, that's a pitch that typically brings the reverse splits you see on guys like Tyler Clippard. Juan Minaya actually has similar splits because his main offspeed is a changeup.

It was a busy winter for Falvey and Levine, although a lot of their work has flown under the radar. It seems like every major league deal they made was accompanied by three minor league ones that didn’t make headlines. As we see every offseason, nothing comes from most of these deals. There are a few players brought in however that could make surprise contributions in 2020.Juan Minaya - Minor League Deal - No Spring Training Invite If Minaya’s name rings a bell, it’s because he spent parts of the last 4 seasons with the White Sox. In 2018 he put up a 3.25 ERA with a near 28% strikeout rate while averaging over 95 mph on his fastball. He was one of the top arms in the White Sox bullpen 2018 with a 78 ERA- which was similar to Sergio Romo’s 2019 season. 2019 wasn’t quite as kind however, as his velocity dipped by almost 2 mph and the effectiveness of the rest of his pitches went with it. His 3.90 ERA was discredited by a 4.66 FIP, and the White Sox outrighted him midseason. Minaya could work to recapture some of that velocity at the age of 29 which could raise the floor of the rest of his arsenal. If the Twins are in need of bullpen help as the season goes on, they may have themselves a high octane arm with past major league success waiting in AAA. Cory Gearrin - Minor League Deal - Spring Training Invite Gearrin is a reliever who’s made a career out of being reliable. In his eight seasons he’s pitched to a 3.64 ERA and 3.81 FIP and in only one of them has he allowed a HR/9 over 1.0 His career groundball rate of almost 50% indicates a high floor, as suppressing fly balls is a valuable skill to have these days. Gearrin also has one of those sliders that nerds love. While he may not have Minaya’s raw stuff with an average fastball at 91.4 mph, there’s a lot to like about Gearrin’s reliability. Gearrin is another one of those veterans who’s been around the majors and provides a great fallback option if something doesn’t go according to plan. We may not be seeing him in a closer or setup role, but he’s a name to watch for at some point in 2020. Blaine Hardy - Minor League Deal - Spring Training Invite Hardy is another player that’s been in the AL Central for a few years, spending his entire career with the Tigers thus far. He suffered a miserable 2019 with a 4.47 ERA and 5.72 FIP while trying to pitch through a partially torn flexor tendon in his arm. Before 2019 however, Hardy had a 3.60 ERA in 5 seasons. He’s shown up to Major League Camp confident that his arm issues are in the past. Hardy has a leg up because of his being left handed. He has some interesting reverse platoon splits (4.82 FIP vs L, 3.69 FIP vs R) due to his best pitch being his changeup the last few years similar to Tyler Clippard. If the Twins can get his breaking ball to be more effective against same handed hitters, Hardy’s repertoire could make him valuable. Pitchers with strong changeups may be at a premium with the new three batter minimum since they’re typically able to match up decently against hitters on both sides of the plate. You have to believe the Twins have something in mind after watching Hardy first hand all these years and giving him a chance to prove he’s healthy in a Twins uniform. The Twins already had some strong minor league depth going into the winter, but clearly wanted some options with more major league experience at the ready. I think this year above all others we’ve seen the front office bring in low risk options with the chance for a high pay off. On non guaranteed contracts, why not give yourself as much of a buffer of major league talent as possible? With the season just around the corner, are there any sneaky candidates you would expect to come up at some point and make an impact for the 2020 Twins? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Logging onto Twins Daily and seeing this picture headlining an article is literally my worst nightmare. Well done.

Chacin is gone if he doesn't come out of the spring with a major league spot I believe. That's the catch 22. I don't think the Twins want to see another Anibal Sanchez situation where a guy could rebound in a big way but they cut him without giving him the chance. Thorpe is definitely ready for a longer look, but the front office will weigh his ability to start at AAA for sure.

It's actually incredible how the front office appears to have improved the team while only sitting at $138m. I'm not super concerned with the free agents next offseason. If Cruz is still slugging, I'd expect the front office to do everything they can to retain him. The rest of the guys I see as replaceable either internally or on the free agent market with all that financial flexibility we'll have back. Losing Odorizzi in particular is a lot less scary now that Berrios, Pineda and Maeda are slotted in.

Love that thought process. The Twins are in an enviable spot where if they choose Chacin, these prospects that are in competition with him just go to AAA until they're needed later. There's risk Chacin doesn't work out, but there's no risk of watching younger talent leave the organization.

Every team has that list unfortunately. The nice thing about the way things fall this spring for the Twins is that the only guys who can "get away" if they don't earn a spot are guys like Chacin and Wisler. All of the young guys can be stashed at AAA.

Very much agree. I just want to see whoever ends up in that spot earn it. I'm hoping it isn't awarded because of the past or what they think of the future. We have enough options that whoever gets it should be judged on how they look in the present. Also love the Jake Reed reference. That's my guy.

Maybe they're thinking of Perez last year? Didn't get released but for sure got scouted out and exposed after his first 11 starts or so. I think both of these guys are different though. Wisler and Chacin have measurable skills that they still do well. Perez just showed up with a new pitch that had 0 scouting reports on it and wasn't good enough to adjust in response.

I love Thielbar, he went to my high school of a few hundred people. I think he could pitch himself into a spot, but he'll have to beat out someone like Cody Stashak who's coming off a nice year. Thielbar has the upper hand because he's a lefty, but it's unknown how much that will even play into the Twins decision with the 3 batter minimum. All that being said, Thielbar is my sleeper to make the squad this spring. He had a hell of a year at AAA last season.