Riverbrian

Trees just end up dropping leaves in the yard and I end up spending all day Sunday raking them up. Also... Deer run out of the forests and crash into my car. Less trees will give me a fighting chance.

C'mon Man... You are not even considering the fact that his name starts with "M"!

Yeah I get that... But the "how" didn't help or hurt the "If". Maybe our "How" hurt our "If" but there is a real strong chance that it wouldn't matter in the first place because if Buxton becomes Buxton he will have teams inflating his price and lowering his value at the same time. What Buxton needs to do now is say "I'll show them". And then go ahead and tren show us all. If he gives us a finger on the way out of town... we still get that extra year of superior play at an affordable price at a time when we could really use it.

Don't we already have an Iglasias carbon copy with Adrianaza? The hitting stats seem to suggest this.

Yes they could. I stopped at 3 because it was (in my opinion) an equivalent price for what Machado would cost and it was also the point that MLR was trying to make. We can keep going along those same lines. If the Twins have the money to spend on Machado, Marwin, Murphy and Miller. They would also have the money to spend, Marwin, Murphy, Miller, McCutchen, Moustakas and Morton. This is going to be important to me personally because I'm trying to avoid any scenerio that involves saying... OK Sano and Buxton... here is the starting job and if you fail... we have Motter to turn to. I'd rather see the Twins sign Marwin, Murphy, Miller, McCutchen, Moustakas and Morton to plug all the holes. Disclaimer: This is for example purposes, I don't believe that the Twins will sign 6 free agents this year. BTW... If you come back with that the Twins could sign Marwin, Murphy, Miller, McCtuchen, Moustakas and Morton plus Machado. I'm just letting you know that at some point in time... I'm going to run out of options that start with "m".

Bryce Harper spent 6 years in Washington. I haven't read any mention of him being treated unfairly. He was the king of DC and he was reportedly offered a nice extension and he turned it down. When the 6 years are up... the 6 years are up.

I mostly agree with MLR... maybe a slight disagreement with him on how close we are but... I mostly agree with him. The money isn't endless no matter how much the Pohlad's have in their pocket. Even the Dodgers are trying to roll back on their spending trying to attract investors. The money has to be spent sensibly. That isn't to say that I wouldn't love to have Machado or Harper on the team. I'd be real excited to have them in a Twins uniform but you could probably sign 3 decent players for the price of one Machado and we need at least 3 decent players. If we sign Machado... how does it make us different than the 2018 Orioles, who finished with the worst record in baseball?. Machado and Sano last year was the equivalent of Machado and Chris Davis last year. Machado, Sano and Dozier was the equivalent of Machado, Davis and Schoop last year. Add on Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, Trey Mancini and the Orioles had a team full of people who could hit but didn't hit and they didn't have anybody else to turn to. The Twins have the money to sign Machado but in my opinion they need to take that money and sign three players instead. I'd rather have Marwin, Murphy and Miller for the same price as Machado. Disclaimer: It was on purpose that I only chose players whose last names started with "M" for an example.

I agree with the dissenting opinions. His floor? We are looking at it right now. It can't get any lower and I see absolutely no reason to extend him right now. I have no way of knowing without his medical charts or a medical degree but in my naive way... I believe that his issues are not medical, they are pitch recognition, plate discipline and trying to hit home runs related. However... the talent is undeniable and those issues that I believe he has are also light switch type issues. If he stops swinging at crap, puts more balls in play, I believe he can become a superstar in seconds. There is no way I'm trading or giving up on him and I believe that Aaron Hicks is an apt example of why you don't trade him. Buxton will either live with us or die with us but the ball is in his court. If he wants the big pay day in the 3 years... he will get that pay day because of his performance with the Minnesota Twins and if he has to fix his issues to earn the big pay day, that's going to be up to him coupled with every ounce of support the organization can provide through their systems. Help him find that light switch.I'm not trading him, I'm not cutting him and I'm not paying him yet either. The same goes for Sano.

That’s going to be the argument and I admit I don’t know the answer. If a starter can go 7 innings does he have to? Why can’t he throw 3 or 4 instead. If a reliever can go 1 inning why can’t he go 2? How much rest is required in all scenarios? Is it the same for all pitchers? I doubt it? I think the combination possibilities are multiple. The opener concept is simple and it makes perfect sense. But in reality... what Tampa really did starting in May was show everybody that they can consider every other possibility and you don’t have to die with the conventional 5 man rotation if you don’t have 5 decent men.

That's it right there. 27 Outs. I'm amazed that a different sequence will make people resistant.

Once you rub the Twins Fan off of yourself for a moment. The joke is actually kinda funny.

My Dad will not pay 10 bucks for a hamburger. He just won't do it. Even if I offer to buy him the 10 buck burger, he consistently refuses. My Dad has more than enough money to afford the 10 dollar burger, he did well enough in the stock market to purchase his own hamburger business outright if he wanted to but he just won't pay 10 dollars for a burger because he thinks 10 bucks is too much for a burger. There are a lot of people in this world with this sort of mentality. With no inside information at all, fairly or unfairly. I have always assumed that Terry Ryan was like my father in this regard and believed it was possible that our budgets had more to do with Ryan's sensibility than some sort of directive from the Pohlad's. Part of the reason I came to this assumption was watching how payroll went up under Bill Smith after replacing Terry Ryan and then how payroll went back down after Terry Ryan returned. Granted that didn't prove anything because the team situations were different in terms of competitiveness but it was enough for me to assume the possibility that it just might be Terry Ryan. Now that Terry Ryan is gone... Payroll has gone up again... so who knows... maybe my assumption is plausible and therefore maybe we can spend 150 Million?

MLR... I'm gonna step in here for a second. Couple of things to keep in mind. 1. As Moderators we not only try to restrict the severity of attacks on fellow TD members but we also try to restrict the severity of the attacks on the front office. It is much harder with the front office since they are directly in the line of fire but we try. 2. The admins have been writing a series of coordinated different approaches to the off-season. Tom wrote about the abrupt change approach, Seth wrote the Status Quo Approach and Nick wrote the Big Spending Approach. When you consider the coordination of each providing something different. I don't think you can assume that any of them are 100% behind their game plans. Nick for example is very intelligent and I can read his article and assume that he knows the difficulty of signing Patrick Corbin but he's listing it because that would be ideal pick up for the Twins... in his opinion... under the context of... spending your way into contention... which is always an option for any team, even if it is a terrible idea from a business standpoint. 3. It's OK to respectfully counter. Just be careful how much cold water you throw on it. These forums are for the fun of the discussion. Join in the fun.

Not only did the Dodgers send Puig down to get his head straight. They also sent down "one time uber prospect" Joc Pederson down to get himself straight

To me it all depends on how you view this current “wave”. If you look at them as inexpensive members of the 25 man roster that give you the payroll space to add talent in addition to them. The doors of possibility open up for you. They don’t cost much more than Ryan LaMarre does. There is no need to trade them. Just roster them and ask them to win a job instead of being handed a job come hell or high water. If you want Sano to get his act together introduce him to your new acquisition Nick Castellanos and make him earn his AB’s.

Hands are over-rated! http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4885432/Kicker.gif

That's what I thought you meant. I agree with most of it. The off-season is for loading up the roster and I want them to load up the roster this off-season. It's much harder to fix your roster once the season is started and everybody has found homes. I'm not looking for piranhas either but... Where we may differ... if we get piranhas and they in contention... I'm bringing them some more food in full support. I will never look at a stacked Red Sox roster and say... We can't compete in a 20 game sample size... no sense in trying. I understand the desire to not mortgage the future and I don't want it mortgaged either but when I look at the prices paid by the Brewers this year to get Moustakas and Schoop... I don't think you have to.

(Fist Bump)

Steve is correct, It does matter... however... how much it matters is the question.

Both of you seem to be saying the same thing so I'm replying to both. I hope not to be misunderstood... I'm all for loading up the roster with as much quality as you can in the off-season to increase your odds of going all the way through. I am not saying that we should just settle for Jake Cave and pass on Pollock and just try to piranha your way through, all the way to the finish. I've lost count on how many times I've typed... give me 25 guys who can play so hopefully, I'm believable when I say it. Ultimately, I want my Twins to look like the Astros and Dodgers currently look on paper. But, if you guys are looking at a team in contention in July. A team full of piranha's and it's Jake Cave leading the way... if you are both saying we shouldn't bother trading a prospect to acquire Justin Verlander because the Astros are just so loaded. If you feel there is no point because the roster doesn't compare to what Boston is putting down on paper... therefore let's not sacrifice our future to take a shot when the team you currently have are earning that shot... We are in 100% disagreement. The Playoffs are 20 games max. You just got to go 12-8. The Orioles could go 12-8 in their current state at any time and are capable of going 12-8 at any time against the best of the best or the worst of the worst and it just might be Renato Nunez who hits 6 home runs at key moments that leads the way. You never who is going to step up or if the paper tigers on the other side are going to experience the bad timing of stepping down at the absolutely wrong time. We just got done watching the Brewers take the Dodgers to Game 7 with a rotation of Chacin, Miley and Gio Gonzalez. A rotation that completely shut down the Rockies before doing decently against mighty Dodgers. Was it the Rockies just not hitting as a team at the moment or did Chacin and Miley just kinda find it at the right time? I don't know but it kinda happened to the Dodgers as well and things like this happen every single year. Meanwhile Kershaw and Ryu fronted the Dodgers rotation and finished 3 wins and 5 losses combined while allowing 25 runs in 49 innings. These paper assessments don't mean much in a 20 game sample size. So acquire some additional help if your team has a shot. Energize them the best you can. You never know what player becomes Eovaldi or what player becomes Darvish but you should try. Never pass on a playoff race because you think you know better. Load up in the off-season... see what happens... If you are contention... load up some more. If you are not... sell off the expiring contracts for more farm options. And even if you don't load up in the off-season and somehow, someway, through voodoo, crazy hops or found light-switches your scrappy team is in contention for a playoff spot... never ever ignore it. The players will let you know which direction you need to go and if they are telling you by their Wins and Losses to go for it... Join them. As for this off-season... I see absolutely no reason to look at what we have and look at what Boston, Houston and New York have and then just throw in the towel to focus on 2020 instead. If I was the Orioles... Yeah... I'd sell off and kick that can down the road. The 2019 Twins should enter the season with plenty of pitching depth, players with talent who are cheap, controllable and could collectively find the light switch, with money to spend and minor league talent that can acquire additional talent... plus... what should be another year of a weak AL Central. Let's go Twins!!! BTW... To avoid any confusion... I'm not saying we should trade Royce Lewis for David Freese to support the team. I always remain hopeful that the front office has some common sense along those lines when it comes to supporting a team.

Reed is out of options. I support the team in any efforts to find talent wherever it may be found while at the same time worry a little because that’s a 25 man spot that could be used on the next Mike Trout. Here’s to hoping that Reed is given the opportunity to prove himself and become the next Mike Trout.

We agree that we should produce the strongest roster possible to increase the odds of surviving every stage of the playoffs but it sounds like we might disagree a bit on the approach. I believe that if that scrappy team finds themselves in contention for a chip and a chair and a chance, it becomes the obligation of the front office to support those scrappy players at the trade deadline. The players are the primary indicator if Jake Cave is leading us to a playoff berth. We shouldn’t be sitting here saying we have no chance because Jake Cave is not Mookie Betts because once the playoff starts It just might be Willians Astudillo who wins the MVP like Steve Pearce did while Jake Cave hits .210 like Mookie Betts did. A wild card team needs to go 12-8 to win the title. The 2018 Baltimore Orioles were capable of going 12-8 if they were given a chip and a chair and a chance. The playoff are a small sample size. I think it starts in the off-season. Load up the roster and let the players decide who is and who isn’t leading us onward and adjust accordingly. It’s a two step process Step one - Qualify for the playoffs Step Two - Compete like your life depends on it for possibly 20 games. You will never find me saying “we don’t have anybody who matches up to Clayton Kershaw so let’s not trade prospects for renting Someone who MIGHT be the guy who catches fire.

I agree with you... Ryan Pressly worked out... Johan obviously. But... we can't afford to hide the guy anymore. If you want to dive into the rule 5... Dive into it... Grab the guy and play the guy. If the attitude is let's absorb him for a year for a pay day in 2021. Pass. If the attitude is... I think he could contribute to the team this year. Go Ahead but the odds are against it so Jeremy and John can have that roster spot back and utilize it as they see fit.

I can still hear the echoes of years past with a large contingent saying just wait until Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Polanco, Berrios get here. #1 Ranked Farm System in Baseball and all that. Now they are here and we have plans being made to wait until the next wave. The Baseball Gods have a twisted sense of humor. It can't be denied.

I was alive and have vivid memories of 1987. I remember the Cards in 2006 and the Giants and the Royals. Any team that makes the playoffs can win it and have. In not just baseball but Hockey and Football as well. If we keep trying to win the game on paper first... we might as well give up now.