Cody Pirkl

We should have the leverage but there is also the possibility that they just cut the Twins out and the Dodgers send another big prospect over. Depends on their determination to get Betts. My argument is that if they threaten with this, don't give in. I'd rather they walk away and keep Graterol than replace him with Duran or balazovic or add another prospect.

By the way I don`t give a d*** (dime) either

Big old Texas sized 10-4 to everything you said here

I wouldn't think too much about Jon Gray unless Arenado gets traded for a package that doesn't include a player that would readily replace him like Kris Bryant. The Rockies don't want to cave for a rebuild and for better or worse, aren't going to start selling off parts like Gray until they have no choice.

I wouldn't think too much about Jon Gray unless Arenado gets traded for a package that doesn't include a player that would readily replace him like Kris Bryant. The Rockies don't want to cave for a rebuild and for better or worse, aren't going to start selling off parts like Gray until they have no choice.

I'd have to guess the reason we haven't seen any starting pitching moves outside of Kluber being made is because the asking price is sky high. Teams likely saw the high cost in free agency even for guys like Keuchel and Kyle Gibson and want more than their arms are worth. 
 
By the deadline, some teams may fall into a position where they lose all the leverage of having a 0-0 record. If they're out of it, teams like the DBacks won't be able to give the illusion of wanting to hold onto Robbie Ray. If the Rockies go full rebuild and dump Arenado, they can't pretend Jon Gray will be around for their next competitive window. 

I'd have to guess the reason we haven't seen any starting pitching moves outside of Kluber being made is because the asking price is sky high. Teams likely saw the high cost in free agency even for guys like Keuchel and Kyle Gibson and want more than their arms are worth. 
 
By the deadline, some teams may fall into a position where they lose all the leverage of having a 0-0 record. If they're out of it, teams like the DBacks won't be able to give the illusion of wanting to hold onto Robbie Ray. If the Rockies go full rebuild and dump Arenado, they can't pretend Jon Gray will be around for their next competitive window. 

Yeah I agree. I've heard a lot of talk about Sano losing his greatest strength as a fielder being his arm by moving to first base. While he's got an absolute cannon, almost half of his errors were on throws. While that doesn't mean learning to scoop and whatnot will be easy, if you eliminate those errors and the range he has to cover to be effective, he could cut down on some mistakes.

I agree, the organization shouldn't be blamed every time a player doesn't pan out. It happens all the time. Teams spend tons of time developing players but they're human beings, there's no process that you can put in place to make them successful 100% of the time. Arcia played for 4 teams in 2016 and flared out with every single one. Occam's Razor for me is that it's an issue with the player be that mental or physical rather than the organization. Some guys have all the physical tools and end up in baseball oblivion.

I agree, the organization shouldn't be blamed every time a player doesn't pan out. It happens all the time. Teams spend tons of time developing players but they're human beings, there's no process that you can put in place to make them successful 100% of the time. Arcia played for 4 teams in 2016 and flared out with every single one. Occam's Razor for me is that it's an issue with the player be that mental or physical rather than the organization. Some guys have all the physical tools and end up in baseball oblivion.

Fernando Romero seems like a guy who just throws instead of pitches. It's not often that you see a young promising guy's walk rate increase like his has as he developed. I also don't really understand why they've got him throwing a sinker that he can't control. I remember watching him pitch this year and he was throwing 96 with life but it was in the bottom of the zone where guys were just dropping the barrel and hitting lazers. 

Fernando Romero seems like a guy who just throws instead of pitches. It's not often that you see a young promising guy's walk rate increase like his has as he developed. I also don't really understand why they've got him throwing a sinker that he can't control. I remember watching him pitch this year and he was throwing 96 with life but it was in the bottom of the zone where guys were just dropping the barrel and hitting lazers. 

I had the opposite view, but this is an interesting stance with some context as to why he may be slipping defensively. I'm concerned by his surgery as well. 
 
At this point, I think all defensive metrics point to him being consistently below average at SS. He may have reached a low in 2019 because of the injuries, but I'm not sure if his peak ability has proven to be league average. 
 
I'd argue that the time to test him at 2B is fast approaching, especially if you have weak spots at other infield positions. It would help his range, his shoulder, and the team. 

Marwin is a solid 3B on defense but I do agree, I wouldn't expect Sano to move to 1B and be even league average right away. I think he can be down the line but doing so now just to slide Marwin into a full time 3B role would be pretty weak. We'd be left with a likely below average first baseman on defense, a below average 3B on offense, and would sacrifice Marwin's versatility that allows us to give guys off days and cover up injuries. And for what? A few million dollars?

There are plenty of internal moves that we can make. My issue is that we're failing to make moves over and over again and settling for what's left at just about every position we have to fill other than the Romo and Avila signings. At some point this "creativity" is going to catch up to us despite how well it worked last season.

He definitely had a slow start last year, but even when he heats up, he doesn't have the offensive firepower to be an everyday first baseman.

He definitely had a slow start last year, but even when he heats up, he doesn't have the offensive firepower to be an everyday first baseman.

Marwin is a solid 3B on defense but I do agree, I wouldn't expect Sano to move to 1B and be even league average right away. I think he can be down the line but doing so now just to slide Marwin into a full time 3B role would be pretty weak. We'd be left with a likely below average first baseman on defense, a below average 3B on offense, and would sacrifice Marwin's versatility that allows us to give guys off days and cover up injuries. And for what? A few million dollars?

I liked the way the Twins played revolving chairs w/ AAA pitching last year. I hope they use the false starters more this season, to keep the starters & BP fresh for the whole season. In this scenario they can use their AAA more effectively & give them more ML experience

Thanks. He really is a great story.
 
I think he gets a shot at those early starts with Pineda and Hill out and makes it hard for the Twins to take him out of the rotation when they return. Keeping hitters off balance and sequencing are key for him. He is going to throw his off speed and breaking stuff more than half the time. They have got to get that mix right.

Players debut young all the time, but they're often for teams that aren't going to put them into roles where it will significantly hurt them if they don't flourish. We're coming off 101 wins and the teams around us like the White Sox have gotten aggressive in trying to challenge us. Our front office doesn't want to risk running rookies out there and costing us the division because of it, they would get spitroasted by the fans and baseball officials because it's a gamble you quite simply don't have to make. 
 
There's also something to be said about the difference between guys being ready and just rushing them through the system. Maybe guys like Kirilloff could hit at the major league level because of his skillset. Lewis for example doesn't look even close to the majors though. He had a pretty bad year and some believe his entire swing will need to be retooled to hit in the majors. Trusting him at a premier position and seeing him fail would be a huge mistake.
 
I'm also not really sure where the idea of trading Marwin got started. He's the opposite of a problem for this team and his numbers don't match up to the value he provides by being able to move around. Trading away a swiss army knife position player and throwing caution to the wind in favor of a minor leaguer would be a huge mistake. Of the group of Larnach, Kirilloff, Rooker and Lewis, if 3 of them become at least league average that would be an enormous win. That's the nature of prospects, you can't rely on them until they actually do it.

I think you could argue that I could have called him an improvement candidate instead of rebound candidate. In terms of WAR, he put up similar marks last year in about 100 fewer ABs. My main argument that we could see more from Marwin in 2020 is based around him hopefully not getting off to that absolutely terrible start that weighed his season down, as well as hopefully avoiding those injuries that limited his plate appearances and likely overall production. He finished the season on an incredible note after the first month.

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

I don't disagree with the belief that we have exciting young arms that could fill in in the rotation. I also think it's fair to hold that belief, as well as the belief that if we trust 2+ rookies to start 40% of our games the year after winning 101 games, that's just a blatant failure. We just watched the Indians do this last season with their outfield to try to save money. They wound up digging themselves a hole and having to fix it at the deadline and it was too late.
 
We have a young core of players coming off career years. We don't have anything resembling a high payroll. We've watched this team lose for years, and we've finally watched one win. I'd be excited to start those young guys if this were 2015, but this team had very few issues last season to address, most of which were the starting rotation. It was a fantastic year for free agent pitching and we had money to spend. There's not really a way to spin a 101 win team handing the keys to rotation spots to a combination of 3 guys who totaled under 100 innings in their entire major league careers. Basically my argument is that if you won't increase payroll to improve this team now, you're not going to. Period. If you're decreasing payroll after winning 101 games and trusting Dobnak, Thorpe, and Smeltzer to play significant roles on this team, you're gambling away the season, division title, and good faith of the fanbase. 

I don't disagree with the belief that we have exciting young arms that could fill in in the rotation. I also think it's fair to hold that belief, as well as the belief that if we trust 2+ rookies to start 40% of our games the year after winning 101 games, that's just a blatant failure. We just watched the Indians do this last season with their outfield to try to save money. They wound up digging themselves a hole and having to fix it at the deadline and it was too late.
 
We have a young core of players coming off career years. We don't have anything resembling a high payroll. We've watched this team lose for years, and we've finally watched one win. I'd be excited to start those young guys if this were 2015, but this team had very few issues last season to address, most of which were the starting rotation. It was a fantastic year for free agent pitching and we had money to spend. There's not really a way to spin a 101 win team handing the keys to rotation spots to a combination of 3 guys who totaled under 100 innings in their entire major league careers. Basically my argument is that if you won't increase payroll to improve this team now, you're not going to. Period. If you're decreasing payroll after winning 101 games and trusting Dobnak, Thorpe, and Smeltzer to play significant roles on this team, you're gambling away the season, division title, and good faith of the fanbase.