Riverbrian

Maybe... this is going to be a learning process for both you and I. I am equally intrigued to see what happens and disgusted by how bad this could potentially be for baseball. I'm excited and sad at the same time. Right now in my mind, simply not being eligible for the QO and draft pick compensation could place a potentially big name into the free puppy box. Teams fall out of contention during the month of August every year. Teams may not be ready to sell in July but a bad month of August will change that thinking. Just for fun... actually not fun... but for the purpose of conversation. Let's imagine the 2023 Twins out of contention this year after a horrible August. (You see what I mean by "Not Fun"). Who are the expiring contracts? Sonny Gray Joey Gallo Michael A. Taylor Kenta Maeda Donovan Salano Tyler Mahle Dylan Floro Emilio Pagan Kepler and Polanco could be included if they don't want to pick up options. I'm not sure but Sonny Gray is perhaps the only player the Twins would offer the 20 million QO to. The rest can be released by the Twins because there is no future for them in Minnesota and it makes sense to get rid of them because all of those 26/40 man spots can be given to players with a possible future with the Twins. Chris Williams, Stevenson, Keirsay, Prato, Martin. Mahle and Gallo will probably be of no interest to anyone but the rest could land somewhere. Maeda could be a game changer, Taylor will be an improvement. Then factor in the money... 50 Million in salary right there. What is the percentage of that on August 29? Then factor in... any team that fell out of contention in August can do the same thing. Then factor in... That a single team gets to grab as many players as they want from all the teams who are operating this way. And I'm saying that every team should operate that way if the rules allow it because if you are out of contention an expiring contract is in the way. I find this whole thing fascinating.

On a tube of Preparation H it says "Not for Oral Use". The manufacturer of Preparation H never imagined that someone would eat the product. One day they got a letter. "Dear Preparation H, I ate this whole dang tube". At that point, they realized that something must be done.

I agree that Forsythe was probably included in the trade to balance the financial side of the deal. It's the placeholder part that I strongly disagree with. I'm not saying the front office didn't see Forsythe as a place holder or even a late season audition for next year in case they wanted to try and sign him. But... I strongly disagree with any reasoning for such place holding. Forsythe had no present or future value and he just took a spot for anybody who had at least future value.

Proactively. Immediately. ASAP. This many off of one single team may not happen again... but, the quality of the free puppy has the potential to go up if the player isn't eligible for a qualifying offer. The Angels screwed up as badly as humanly possible at the July deadline. But, what they did yesterday was pretty smart. Bad for baseball but smart. The expiring contract on a team not going to the playoffs does no good for the present and no good for the future. It should be an easy agreement. If the players union is truly concerned about tanking. I don't believe they are but the marketing/public relations department of the players union sure let everyone know that they were against tanking during the CBA negotiations that they took public. If the players union is truly against tanking... this is a whole new level of tanking... this is the tanking of tanking. This is tanking without getting anything for it.

I know a million dollars doesn't mean what it once did. However... I do feel like I have to remind some folks that a million dollars is still... you know... an actual million dollars. It's one dollar more than $999,999 The thought that a non-contending team is going to just drop a million dollars into the toilet just to keep a Matt Moore from landing on a contending team that just happens to be a rival makes no sense. Especially when they don't know that the rival team that they are trying to punish with this expensive practical joke is actually going to get that player. There's a lot to digest here and a lot to consider and it's certainly going to be interesting and educational to watch unfold but I'm not really sure how the thought of a team wasting a million dollars has any legs at all.

Agreed about the Angels... OMG. It has to be the handiwork of Moreno. No GM would do what they just did. It actually hurts me to think that this organization went from possibly adding a couple of top 100 prospects for the rental of Ohtani to giving up 4 of their top 30 prospects instead and then just put the players they acquired for those prospects into a free puppy box. I also think you are right about the Angels being an outlier but only in the sense of the volume that they just threw on the pile. Clevinger with the White Sox is a pretty nice puppy for some playoff bound pitching staff looking for a basset hound. This feels more than a one-off to me. I mentioned this earlier. If I was the Twins... I would have done the same thing to Forsythe. The expiring contract player serves no purpose on a team not going to the playoffs. Forsythe was serving no purpose for us. I would have also sent Simmons a float in August of 2021. And... And... I absolutely would not have signed Matt Belisle in 2017. The Angels releasing this much talent may be a one off with the luxury tax and qualifying offer compensation for Ohtani as legitimate factors... but... I can't help but think that the Angels... just may have shown everyone a better way to manage expiring assets. And of course... if it's the Angels showing us a better way... they did that by accident.

It's an agreement/negotiation between the players union and major league baseball. Manfred wasn't the only smart person in that room.

This is new so it's hard to say how teams will feel about it once it is all said and done. We will have to wait and see... However... on the surface... The Marlins can grab them all by virtue of being 1 solitary game behind the Reds.... timing is everything in life I guess. If the Marlins grab them all and make the playoffs afterwards. The Reds just might have a problem with that, any team that didn't make the playoffs while the Marlins are flying to Milwaukee for Game One is not going to be happy. If the Marlins beat the Brewers... The Brewers may not be happy about it. Now... I don't believe the Marlins loading up is going to guarantee that the Marlins will be successful but that 1 game deficit at exactly the right time has the potential to change the scope of things. I agree that players move within the scope of the rules with little complaint. However, this is new and different.

I believe the players union was behind the elimination of the August waiver trade deadline in an effort to slow what they called tanking. Of course... teams found a way around that as evidenced yesterday and this version is worse because these players are sitting in a box marked "Free Puppies". If one team... let's say the Marlins grab the majority of the best of the available players because they can. That would be a fairly significant on-paper uptick. Also, to make room... the Marlins are going to have to release Yuri types to make room and what happens to the Yuri type? It's on paper so there are no guarantees that these acquisitions are the key to victory... However let's say the Marlins grab everyone and then roll right past the Giants for the final wild card spot. Regardless if those players got the job done... the other teams are going to be pissed. Whatever change is made... the players union will most likely be involved but there will have to be an adjustment. I've got my popcorn... this will be interesting to watch what happens. I hope the Twins can cash in.

I've never met any of these people. I've never seen any of them interact with each other. Has a happy club house ever lost? Has an unhappy club house ever won? Is there some sort of harmony meter that can measure the degree of it and subsequent effect on the Win/Loss Record. Has anyone ever seen an office of 25 people in any industry where everybody likes everybody? Ross doesn't like you and he tells Joey, Monica and Chandler that he doesn't like you and they talk behind your back. Is this on Ross or You? Is Ellen DeGeneres Mean? Have the Touhy's done Michael Oher wrong? What the hell do we know? Social Media ain't teaching us.

This is the first year that we have seen this. It's a new loop hole. They will have to address this in the off-season and come up with a new waiver policy. In the meantime... 26/28 and 40 man roster considerations might slow the Marlins and Reds from grabbing everyone.

The trade deadline couldn't have been worse for the Angels. This is why the Angels have struggled for so long. They don't think they have to develop it... they think they can buy it.

I have thought about this sort of thing for quite some time and wondered why we haven't seen something like this sooner. Logan Forsythe for example. After the Dozier trade we got Forsythe back in the deal. He was a pending free agent... we were out of contention so he served no purpose for the present and none for the future. We should have just let him go after he was included in the deal. That was 2018... 5 years later... teams are finally listening to me. 😁

You have to consider all of them. 40 man decisions would be interesting but you have to consider all of them. Moore and Lopez would be upgrade over current members of the pen. Grichuk and Renfroe both could improve our right handed batters box. Giolito... surprisingly would be the one who wouldn't be an upgrade over current staff. Never thought I'd say that. Teams out of contention have no reason to sign these guys and we should be near the first choices from teams in contention. Interesting... We gotta land someone here. This could be like X-mas in August.

Or... Vazquez is worn out because he had to play 1B yesterday. 😉

The Twins are much more inclined to avoid the lefty vs lefty compared to the righty vs righty. Historical platoon numbers suggest that lefty hitters do worse against left handed arms than righty hitters do against right handed arms but these are numbers that are created over decades and decades of 162 game schedules. It's a lot of numbers that go into those historical numbers. What you and I seem to agree on is this question. What about each individual that goes into those historical numbers? What Julien will produce isn't historical... it's individual. Anyway... like I said earlier. The die has been cast. They haven't been fed a diet. It's a bad time to start when the chips are down. The best that I can hope for in the playoffs is that we don't pinch hit for Julien in the 5th inning because Genesis Cabrera was brought into the game. I hope Rocco can hold out so Julien and Kirilloff are around to face Romano if needed. I don't hold much hope on that... because the die has been cast.

All of our platooning this year has produced a lineup that struggles against left handed pitchers. If it's working... we should have balanced numbers. Why? Our best hitters have been our young left handed hitters and they are consistently taken out of the game. If you really want to blow your mind. Figure out the value based on a per bat basis. Vazquez hits .219 vs lefties. Julien hits .205 vs lefties. These numbers have been accumulated over 100 combined AB's so how much of a percentage uptick to you get in one single AB. Yes... you gotta factor in the splits produced by the pitcher but again... what kind of percentage uptick do you get from the pinch hit when it's Vazquez.

On the pinch hit of Farmer last night. I believe it was a bad move but it isn't out of the ordinary across baseball. I assume that Rocco was aware of the lefty in the bullpen, I assume that he even knew it was Smith in the bullpen and I assume that he was aware that Wallner is on-deck so I assume that Rocco knew Bochy would bring out the lefty when Julien was announced as a pinch hitter because that would be a little left handed stack. So therefore... the only final assumption that I can make is. Rocco would rather Vazquez face Smith than Farmer facing LeClerc. If that is correct and it might be. My question would be... why didn't he use Gallo instead of Julien for the role of sacrificial lamb? The only assumption that I can make on that. Rocco doesn't think Gallo is scary enough to draw out Smith meaning Bochy just stays with LeClerc and Gallo just strikes out because that is what Gallo does. Two outs and a tying run on 2nd. A single is needed and Gallo is just plain low percentage on the hitting a single scale. Now if that's the case... and it just might be. Gallo is getting pretty close to useless on this roster. Personally... I would have left Farmer to face LeClerc and make Bochy bring the lefties Smith and Chapman to face the right handed hitting gauntlet that was still in place (minus Kepler for Luplow) for the 9th. Plus by burning Julien and Vazquez in the same plate appearance with Kepler already in the game. If we get that single to tie up the game. Only Gallo is left on the bench for extra innings. So... Yeah... I think it was a questionable move.

Disclaimer: I'm not anti-platoon. I understand the benefit of a platoon. I'm against the strict usage of it. I agree with you... I've been singing this same song for awhile now. I won't go to the point of calling it negligent or malpractice since the Twins are not alone but yeah... I have the same concerns that you do. Kirilloff, Julien and Wallner can't hit lefties. Well of course they can't... they don't get to face them. It's a self fulling prophecy. Ryan Jeffers? He couldn't hit right handers last year. This year... he is crushing right handers and it's lefties that he can't hit. Who is Ryan Jeffers... What will Ryan Jeffers be in the future? Jeffers can be what you let him be. Kirilloff can be what you let him be. I believe that the early months of the season should be spent gathering data. If you want to take the data gathered for the stretch run and get aggressive with a platoon... fine by me. Because by that time the players will have told you who should platoon and who shouldn't and you are set up for the stretch run. Platooning a rookie out of the gate. That's just a good way to guarantee that they won't be better than Joc Pederson.

Gallo fell... It happens. I have no problem with Gallo. Solano... I wouldn't be able to explain for the life of me.

I agree but I fear that the die has been cast. They can't starve Kirilloff and Julien of AB's against lefty pitchers during the season and then start feeding them a diet of leftys during the playoffs. The best we can hope for is to not pinch hit too soon. Make the moves late in games. I don't want to see Farmer pinch hit for Julien in the 6th so Farmer has to face the right handed closer in the 9th. I'd rather that they keep their options until the 8th or 9th. Pinch Hitting, Pinch Running, Defensive replacements can be made at that point.

IMO... This is accurate. All year long. Youth has out performed the vets. However... I would like to hat tip to a vet. Dallas Keuchel deserves it.

I'm not afraid of any team in a 3 games series and at the same time... I'm afraid of them all. The Rays will figure out which arms to throw. Yes they are a little light on the traditional starter side but they have plenty of arms to utilize and they will utilize them. On Offense... There have plenty of hitters who can hit the ball. They were never built around a superstar so if there is one team equipped to lose a super star... This is that team. Let's see who we face and let's go face them.