Riverbrian

It has to be one of the most "moving" of moving targets. If you wait for Sano and Buxton to have a big year... that means they had a big year without the "aggressive" support. So the next year... you provide the "aggressive" support and they don't have such a big year or they get hurt. Wouldn't it be smarter to just provide the support in case they have the big year? It seems like any attempt to "time it" would be nearly impossible while causing missed windows unintentionally on the front and back side.

I'd have to give something up and that $4 dollars is my monthly air freshener budget.

I'm too cheap to pay for access to the Athletic so I'm hoping that there is more nuance to the statement. Because... My God... If Ownership is waiting for Buxton and Sano to hit the organizational go button? That's kinda like saying... I will buy a boat only after I catch a Muskie. Does this mean that ownership will not rely on the management team they hired to find players to rely upon... but will instead rely upon players who have been unreliable thus far? I'm really hoping that Thad Lavine is easily misunderstood when providing information during interviews.

If a pitcher doesn't know what to throw next. I'd suggest AAA to do some more learnin.

If Bryant were untouchable If the Red Sox wanted to trade Betts, Benitendi, Bradley and Boegaerts for Bryant. He'd become touchable. I think that is what Theo means.

Iglasias is pretty awesome with the glove. I've seen him make some plays that make me wonder just what humans are capable of but... 9 Million? Multiple Years? Adrianaza would be more cost effective IMO.

J.D. Martinez could play OF if needed. They had the Killer B's in the Outfield who were better so JD naturally was the easy choice to DH. Nelson Cruz would be a little more challenging.

Necessity is the mother of invention. You are right... 13 Pitchers will be necessary to execute the changes coming. That leaves you 12 to play defense and hit on your roster. If you sign Nelson Cruz... now you are down to 11 players who can play defense. I'm ok signing Nelson Cruz... but if you do... flexibility instantly becomes even more uber-ultra-extra important. Signing Nelson Cruz is being looked at backwards here on Twinsdaily. Flexibility will allow you to sign Nelson Cruz. If you don't have it... you can't sign him.

I don't view having too many good hitters as a problem either. It's exactly what I want. The team will naturally find a guy who gets the majority of swings at the DH position or it the team just wants to sign Nelson Cruz... It can and do so successfully but they will need other outlets elsewhere to accommodate the locking down of the DH position. But if they take the same approach as last year and just sign Nelson Cruz and go with Cruz, Austin and Sano at DH, 1B and 3B with no escape hatch. The team will learned nothing from what happened in 2018. You can set your egg-timer for when you see Adrianaza playing 1st base because they have nobody else.

Yep The Giants hired a PBO from the Dodgers The Rangers hired a Manager from the Dodgers The Twins hired a Manager from the Rays The Jays hired a manager from the Rays. The Mets had a GM finalist from the Rays. The Orioles are looking at a GM or PBO from the Astros Baldelli was a finalist for the Reds Manager Job Hyde from the Cubs was a finalist for the Twins and Jays Manager Job. The baseball traditionalists should be feeling the ground shake and see the coffee cups falling off the shelves right about now.

The goal of being a team with true flexibility isn't to limit the players you sign to only ones who are flexible... the goal is to be able to fit anybody on to your roster... even Nelson Cruz. Houston is not worried about Gurriel hitting .112. because they have Tyler White. They would hate it if Altuve got hurt but they have Marwin. The Dodgers don't have to watch Dozier hit terribly and they won't and they didn't because they will throw in Hernandez, Taylor, Muncy or Utley instead. Boston didn't crash and burn because Pedroia couldn't play or Devers was struggling. They keep Nunez and Holt around. I think we are closer than some think. We have money to spend and multiple prospects to spend as well. We have a core... that needs to play better but a core that has talent and doesn't cost that much. This is a gift because it means that we hit the jackpot if they figure it out and we don't have to die if they don't. Every avenue is wide open. I know exactly what I would do... Fill the 25 Man up with players who can play. Don't stop short by saying... We got Sano at 3B and Austin at 1B so we are good". and then have to come to us later and say... We sure expected more out of Sano and Austin. Go get Castellanos to join Sano and Austin and let them work it out. Have a manager who can figure it out in case all 25 players are successful and also figure it out in case we have some players who are not. I want a team that isn't bound and gagged by any traditional baseball convention and a manager who will not go down with the ship without trying something else. I'm willing to sign the next Morrison in 2019 and I realize that it might end up being a mistakelike it was in 2018... what I'm not willing to do is double down on that mistake by not only paying him all that money but letting him hit under .200 while paying him all that money. If you have to take the loss... take only one of those losses and not both. I'm not looking for a starting 9... I'm looking for a starting 12 and then I'm letting the players provide the information the manager needs to make the right decision. If the team would have taken this approach in 2018... We probably would have won 10 games more than they did. In my opinion... of course. Tyler Austin and Jake Cave could be great signings and I'm encouraged by them but I've got safety nets in case they are not.

In any roster construction, flexible or not. You will have your most obvious candidate to handle the DH... IE... the guy who sucks the most defensively or the guy who is the worst defensive player from an area of extras. I wouldn't have a problem signing Cruz but I'd like him to be able to play some OF in case, Tyler Austin, Sano and whoever we signed to play 3B are all hitting the snot out of the ball along with Cruz. If you sign Cruz and say we have DH locked down... it can limit the inclination to sign the guy who can play 3B because you wouldn't have any place to put Austin and Sano in case they all succeed. So you set your roster... go on with life... Austin hits .112 and now you are signing Grossman off the waiver wire and teaching Cruz to play 1B real quick. If Cruz could play some OF... you don't have to do any of that stuff. I'd sign Cruz just like I'm willing to sign Murphy but any DH I sign... I'd prefer if they could man a position. Therefore... I present myself as "Don't sign a DH only".

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.

I'm basically against a DH only because it clogs up the flexibility I crave but the concept you speak of is the same. The team should be trying to sign the best players possible and be able to fit them into the roster. If it's Edgar Martinez... It's Edgar Martinez... however, I'm still going to look elsewhere first for the defensive possibilities.

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.

LOL... In reality, Not Yet... But eventually yes. Evolution Baby... Evolution. It's why some birds have large beaks. It's because they will die if they can't crack that nut.

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.

Versatility is absolutely in: Not only will teams will be climbing over themselves to get Marwin and not only will Josh Harrison find a home but take a look at the management level. Farhan Zaidi of the Dodgers it new President of Baseball Operations of the Giants. Add that to Chris Woodward of the Dodgers as the new manager of the Rangers, Baldelli of the Rays with the Twins, Montoya of the Rays with the Jays. Also consider that Chaim Bloom the current Rays PBO was a candidate for the Giants and Mets job and the Orioles are currently looking at Houston assistent GM Mike Elias for that Orioles GM position. And also consider that Baldeilli was also a finalist for the Reds job and Brandon Hyde of the Cubs was a finalist for the Twins and Jays and it sure looks like everybody was looking in the same tight versatility circle. Marwin is going to get paid while Escobar and Nunez probably sold themselves short. The jobs available to the Buck Showalter types are going to be less and less.

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.

St. Paul Born and raised. Only wore the the Twins uniform in the Major Leagues. 3 Batting Titles as a Catcher which has never happened. The only question left to answer is what day in 2019 do they choose to retire the #7 and place the number below the Budweiser deck. and later on... where on the plaza will his statue be placed. He was one of us... more than perhaps any other ball players was one of us. A toast to your health, to your family, to you Joe Mauer.

This is a great example of why social media is such a dangerous thing. Bill James is too smart to mean what his tweet sounded like and I believe if you allowed him more than 140 characters he’d have a chance at explaining himself and not being torn to shreds. There is no way Bill James is as stupid as his quote sounds.

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.