Riverbrian

Yes they can... The Twins can afford it and if Romero is worth it... they will pay it... I'm not looking at this from a Fernando Romero only viewpoint. The effect can only be calculated when placed in context with how much they are paying everybody else in a given year. Look at the potential payroll demands for 2021... Think about where we might be in our contention window in 2021... Now throw an extra 1 to 6 million dollars to Romero that you didn't have to pay and it could cost you a bullpen arm when you need it in 2021, the money needed to extend someone or the money for just a little better free agent. Yes the Twins can afford a Romero Arbitration win. Every team can. However... we all know that the Twins typically can't afford the players we need every year when putting together a complete roster.

I appreciate the non-conventional approach. I hope the Twins follow this up with a life coach for a while. And finally... I believe with all of my heart that Sano will not feel like a bust when he stops swinging at crap.

Dear Jake, There is a door open for playing time, take advantage of it. This is how solid careers begin... it starts with opportunity. Don't try to win the job in one game, just have a plan at the plate and do your best to consistently put the ball in play. Best of luck to ya, I'm pulling for you. No pressure but we fans could sure use someone to show a spark of something. Sincerely, Riverbrian

The Duluth deal is tenuous at best. Bryce saw all the potholes in Duluth and the agent is working on dissolution of the agreement.

I was referring to the possibility that Romero is a healthy superstar ace which is a possibility IMO. He has some plus stuff. However, It's obvious that I'm trying to point at Bigfoot with my service time concerns. I can't say I'm convinced but I've enjoyed the discussion enough that I will not dismiss the counter point that it is just a big guy walking around in the woods wearing body length fur coat.

That 5 million matters with a heavily budgeted franchise like the Twins or the A's or the Reds. Especially when you consider that we will have potentially 5 high dollar Arb 3 guys in 2021 and a couple of potential high dollar Arb 2 guys and a couple of high dollar free agents signed in 2019 and maybe a couple of mistake salaries that have to be eaten like most years. Extensions, quality bullpen arms, A decent starting 2nd baseman can all be acquired for 5 million dollars. That 5 million might be that final piece of the puzzle. We could use the 5 million dollars in a trade for the 74th pick in the draft. This is Minnesota... we can't say... 5 million is no big deal... we all know that it is around these parts.

You can make a lot of months sound appropriate with that method. It's nuanced... I get that. The Nationals probably didn't want to call up Juan Soto this quickly but they got over ran with injuries so up he came earlier than planned but the Nats can't worry about Super Two or anything like that this year because they are contenders this year and Soto was the best choice and now that he is helping them win with some impressive day after day performance. They can't send him back down which I'd be willing to bet they probably assumed they would have to when the players started come back off the DL. The White Sox who are not contenders will still have to explain to me and you... Exactly why Eloy Jimenez is still in the minors raking steadily before I walk away from the possibility. Couldn't Eloy Jimenez be someone who could use a little seasoning for a better 2019. The White Sox want that extra year... which they have and they want to avoid Super Two. I'm saying the Twins are now in White Sox non-contending status for 2018 so someone like Romero becomes a future consideration more than a right now consideration and he looks like someone who could matter in the future. Not saying he's a lock but a possibility that can't be written off based on his stuff.

I maybe overthinking this but thanks for indulging me anyway. It sure seems like a lot of prospects come up in June.

You can't just look at the 1st year by itself... It will be cumulative over 4 years and by the time 2021 rolls around, we will probably have some long term commitments... if we fancy ourselves contenders.

I wasn't feeling picked on. I'm enjoying the discussion. I get that a lot has to go right for all of this to matter but what if it does and I won't rule it out... He looks good out there. I think he's legit. Yes... The Twins will gladly pay the 20 million in ARB 4 if Romero turns into the monster we'd like him to be but there is a reason Eloy Jimenez is in Charlotte raking while Tilson is the every day left fielder in Chicago and I'm not convinced that it's because he has to work on his defense or quilting skills. It's not just 20 million in ARB 4... it is also 20 million extra over all 4 years of Arb plus the 20 million in ARB 4 and all they have to do to avoid it... Is cool him down a little in a lost season.

Right now Romero is around .54 and if he comes back after 10 days and stays the entire year he would end around .144. Give or take a day or two. Time on the D.L. while on the major league roster would continue to accrue service time so injury doesn't stop the clock. Yes... odds are good that Romero may bounce around a little like Berrios did but what if he doesn't. If he spends .144 in a lost 2018 season... He's gonna have to really bounce down to Rochester for a lengthy stretch to get under that 22%. What if he just does the job. What if he becomes important in the next two seasons. Not out of the realm of possibility. He looks like a pretty damn good pitcher with some serious stuff. However many millions of dollars he earns in that super two arb year is money that they don't have available to spend on an additional player in 2021. The Twins have a budget and potentially 2021 is a year when Sano, Buxton, Rosario and Kepler will be ARB 3 and Rosario and Berrios will be ARB 2. Not to mention the rolling effect on the next 3 Arb years because they typically increase each year and that additional super two year will act like a springboard for them. Super Two Status could conceivably cost us a decent additional player in each of those years. It seems like Keeping him down the rest of 2018 says the team thinks he can start opening day in 2019 and they want to count on him. While keeping him up in 2018 says that they think he's gonna spend significant minor league time in next two years and then yes... it clearly won't matter. As for the timing of the demotion. Necessity is the mother of invention is all I got. Odorizzi made it necessary. Who knows... Being a GM is much more complicated than running my fantasy baseball team.

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but you may have this backwards. Fans are the ones that tend to dismiss service time and the fan typically doesn't calculate the down the road effect it has on payroll in 2021 in 2018 when the decision is being made but front offices HAVE TO and I believe all 30 teams strongly consider service time on decisions on any player that looks major league caliber... If they don't... they are making their future jobs harder by not using the CBA to their advantage. Now the discussion over weather Romero is a great prospect or uber prospect is certainly in the eye of the beholder but in my opinion... He's looks pretty damn good to me despite his 4 plus ERA and I really don't care if Baseball Prospectus has him ranked #97. If he stays healthy... I believe that he will be important in 2019 and I can't dismiss the possibility that he could become the type of player that will get 10 million in ARB money as a Super Two like Kris Bryant did. If 2018 is lost... Send him down to AAA... Let him get his work in and manage his innings and Super Two is not an issue. Open 2019 with him in the rotation on day one and pay him 600K instead of 10 million ARB money in 2021 and then you will have Romero plus whoever 10 million can buy instead of just Romero for the same price in a year that is supposed to be firmly in our projected open window of serious contention. Just discussing... I don't take myself seriously enough to believe that I am absolutely right but I certainly consider my thinking to be at the very least possible.

I've brought this up a lot but I'm just asking because you seem to shy away from it in your pondering. Do you think it's possible that the front office has moved into 2019 and beyond planning? Do you consider it possible that Service Time would be a strong consideration, in this case, if they have decided that 2018 is a lost or dwindling cause.

That is funny. If you are going to bean a guy... do it with a sense of humor is what I always say. BTW... I love the quotes from Busenitz. He'll look different to me after reading those quotes.

It might have been a case of Reed taking matters into his own hands. I'm not aware of any direct link to Molitor ordering the hit.

Magill might clear waivers but right now you'd have to consider the next move to make room for Mejia: A can that has been kicked down the road a little.

I was coaching 15 year old's and my team was down something like 10-0 and the other team had a runner on third and my pitcher delivered a wild pitch. The kid on third started to break for the plate and the coach yelled out "No-No-No" and held up the stop sign and the kid returned to third confused. I called time and walked over to the coach and said... "Hey, I appreciate that but I just got done telling my guys to forget the scoreboard. I told them the score is 0-0 and I want you to win the rest of the game. Please don't stop playing baseball on our account because we won't be". So, the coach allowed his team to play ball like I requested. The game ended up being kinda interesting if you took away the 10 runs we spotted them. I was proud of the kids. After the game, one of our parents who had no idea what was said between us was waiting in the parking lot to tell (scream at) (intimidate) the other coach exactly how classless he was and that ended up being the embarrassing part.

It wasn't as acute?

I think it's goofy that the winning manager is the one who has to know when to pump the brakes. Make it a formal surrender from the manager of the trailing team. Make Molitor declare formally that we are down by the 7 runs in the 4th inning... we would like to give up now. He can signify this formal surrender by benching his two top players (Escobar and Rosario) and then Bannister can respectfully accept his side arm and keep his runners from advancing extra bases or sliding too hard.

The third was clearly intentional. He took 3 shots at him before finally hitting him. The reasoning for the action was flawed because it was the 4th inning... but if the flawed reasoning provided much needed inspiration for a lost and drifting club... then I'm not losing a minutes sleep over it. If sacrificing a live goat gets these guys inspired to play some baseball... I'll provide the goat and not question the reasoning. On the other hand... I find it concerning that the opponent continuing to play hard is what offended them.

Barring injury or complete collapse from someone... I think the 2019 opening day rotation is set. Gibson, Berrios, Romero, Odorizzi and Pineda are the starting 5. They will have a lot of holes to concentrate on elsewhere and decent starting pitching depth remaining even if they elect to let Mejia and May go. I don't believe we will have any surprise Lynn type signings next off season.

I agree with most of what you are saying. But... I will disagree with this ... it wasn't the injuries. It's was and is the performance of the healthy. Sano, Buxton, Dozier, Morrison and Kepler collectively have made it near impossible to be a winning team. The Sano and Buxton injuries actually guaranteed that Molitor would have to play someone who performed better. Not someone better... but someone who performed better. That brings the costly injuries down to Mauer, Castro and Polanco suspension. Nearly every major league team has had to endure significant injuries or more this season and all the seasons before that. Check this out: https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-disabled-list-tracker/ The accuracy of the rating system and subsequent rankings can of course be debated but it is easy to look at it and conclude that the sum total of our 2018 injuries are pretty typical and therefore not a valid excuse.

I have no idea. I can only theorize with fuzzy two plus two math like the rest of us. The need for a bullpen arm was seemingly the necessity that activated the need for a decision yesterday. Otherwise... like you mentioned... they could have sent Romero down after his start on Friday. In theory... the plan for Romero could have been in the back of the collective Falvine mind for quite some time and this provided the timing but again... I have no idea. Waiving Belisle or Magill were options and they didn't go either of those directions. In the rotation only Romero and Odorizzi were possibilities for demotion without penalty. Romero has been better than Odorizzi for the season. Romero has been better than Odorizzi for the past 30 days. Romero has been better than Odorizzi for the past 15 days. Romero was better than Odorizzi in the most recent starts for both. I've always said that when things don't make sense... follow the money and it clears up. I've been amazed how often that is true.

That might be the only justification that ties it all together. But... they gotta put some young guys on the roster and that means vets are going on the trading block. And we are back to: The plug has been pulled.

We are (Except for the Belisle Part... there is nothing big picture about that move at all).