Whammy

Adding Ervin Santana in July is just like making a big trade at the trading deadline.

What in the Twins recent history would lead us to believe that those prospects will be called up when "ready" (I use "ready" because the Twins seem to have way more criteria for a prospect being ready). Buxton is probably the only person you've listed that isn't blocked by someone who "Competes every night", "is good at controlling the zone", or has "years of experience to lean on" Injuries happen, but without injuries, I consider almost every one of those players to be blocked. Well.... Twins-blocked

"Those two guys haven't even had a year of pro ball." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As of a couple weeks ago, the Lookouts did not have a TV contract with MiLB, and thus, were not scheduled to have any of their games televised. I assume that hasn't changed.

It's going to be a rude awakening for our AAA pitcher if/when they called up. Their OF defense is going to be FAR superior at AAA than in MLB.

I haven't listened to the episode yet, but this is where I was hoping to find this discussion. I wanted ONE..... all I needed was ONE out-of-the-(Twins typical)-box choice for the 25 man roster. Meyer... Rosario.... Burdi..... Sano.... Heck, I might have even settled for May. But, no, I got the same uninspiring choices.

The debt/value % seems to indicate that the Twins share of the stadium is not paid off. Based on that number the Twins have $225M in future liabilities.

Owner: James Pohlad Championships: 3 Price Paid: $44 M Year Purchased: 1984 Revenue: $223 M Operating Income: $21.3 M Debt/Value: 25% Player Expenses: $106 M Gate Receipts: $71 M Wins-to-player cost ratio: 99 Revenue per Fan: $43 Metro Area Population: 3.5 M

http://www.forbes.com/teams/minnesota-twins/ That's the Twins' new value according to Forbes. Up from $605M last year (a 48% increase)

That was the writers reaction to the contract, not my reaction to the article. "It was fine.... I suppose" "It wasn't too bad.... I guess" "None of these examples are very good comparisons, but I'll put them up here because that's what my editor expects. I can't draw any conclusions from them, though"

The writer could have saved himself a lot of time and just typed "YAAAAAAAWN" and submitted that to his editor.

In the case of "Age 31 Brian Dozier" he might turn down your QO, not because he's worth more than the 1-year dollar value of that offer, but because he's looking for one more guaranteed payday (say 4 years, $40M). And if you are the Twins, you might not pick up the option because you have other in-house options that you feel will perform near the same level at a much lower cost, but at the same time you think that he will turn down your qualifying offer because he wants a multi-year contract. I get that these are all hypotheticals, but I think that's a scenario that is more likely than you are considering it to be.

I think it would be obvious what we are doing, but also smart, and hardy a sham. This is all moot, in this case, because there isn't an option year, I was just trying to understand the system more clearly. For the sake of argument, if you couldn't do a QO if you turn down an option, that would be a very good reason not to offer a (team) option year.

Right, but can will still make that $15M offer if we turn down an option year?

If we turn down an option year, does that remove the opportunity for us to get draft pick compensation should he leave in free agency?

I think most of us would agree that he has a very strong chance to pitch in the majors this year, right? I guess I find it odd that that type of player wasn't invited to Major League camp, regardless of whether you bring him up to start the year.

Wheeler down for the year with TJ Surgery.... Duensing and Nolasco for Marcos Molina

How great would it be if you hacked their system and could play any walk-up music you wanted? Oh, the possibilities.

Maybe in a medium/small market, that's what it takes to win. a) it's not my money b ) the value of their franchise is certainly going up faster than they are losing money. If I have $10000 and I have to pay a guy $1000 per year to manage it, but he always gets me $3000 in earnings, I don't say that I lost $1000 every year.

I don't normally pound my fists on the table and insist on more spending, but that quote just really irritated me.

------ it will not let me edit that quote..... but it's from Jim Pohlad, not Parker Hageman----- By that, Jim, do you mean that they are spending as much, if not (gulp) MORE than they are comfortable spending in order to attract top pitching talent and maintain a high performing roster? Yes. They do seem very intent on winning. The Twins, in stark contrast, seem to, at best, be intent on competing.... and at worst, be intent on maintaining high profitability.

"That's just the way I feel," Ryan said. "A lot of things have to happen for that to be a reality, I know that.

This perhaps belongs in the "other baseball" forum, but I'm tying it loosely to the Twins, so..... http://grantland.com/the-triangle/adam-dunn-juan-pierre-why-we-need-wins-above-replacement-stat/ This article breaks down each aspect of the WAR metric and specifically compares Juan Pierre and Adam Dunn, who both played for 14 years and recently retired. (Spoiler Alert: The have the same WAR) In general it's an interesting article but this paragraph, toward the end, was most noteworthy to me: ---------------- Although WAR reveals that Pierre and Dunn were equally valuable to their teams, their teams weren’t equally generous to them. From a financial perspective, it was far better to be Dunn, who retired with $112.7 million in career earnings, almost twice Pierre’s $57.1 million take. When economist Matt Swartz studied spending on free agents in the Hardball Times Annual 2013, he found that defense, baserunning, and contact were all undervalued skills, and that walks weren’t, which helps explains the disparity. More’s the pity for Pierre. On the other hand, WAR reveals that Dunn and Pierre were both lucky to be as well known as they were; given that an average player amasses roughly two WAR in a single full season, Dunn’s and Pierre’s career totals aren’t particularly impressive. As Bill James once wrote, “Specialists and players who do two or three things well are overrated; players who do several things well are underrated.” Dunn’s power and walk rate and Pierre’s contact skills and speed made them more visible than the more well-rounded (but less eye-catching) recent retiree Mark Ellis, who produced far more WAR in far less playing time. ---------------- In my opinion, the Twins, for at least the last 5 years, probably longer, have been falling into the traps that I've highlighted.

I took this as Aaron just being snarky, but then he started off this week's podcast complaining about the comments on this thread. I think all of the criticism was very constructive. Why you felt the need to recover your password and make your third post ever on this website is beyond me. Only one guy got at all personal, talking about your writing about celebrity crushes being creepy. The post that that guy quoted what critical, but I think very constructive. If you don't have anything positive to say about someone, then why is he in your top ten? You don't need to be a homer, but talking about the positive and negatives of a prospect you have in your top 10 seems like common sense.

In the original two scenarios, it was the exact same ERA (3.86)