Riverbrian

1st... we don't know what the Twins offered Darvish. Where Darvish wants to go is always going to be a part of the equation so a complete rebuke of the organization isn't fair without that key information. 2nd... I will withhold overall judgement until the off season is complete. If all eggs were in the Darvish basket then I think it is completely fair to say that they failed. 3rd... If Plan B or C is decent enough... The benefit of the doubt is still reasonable. 4th... Yeah... If the Twins couldn't top that offer and get a deal done this year in the current climate with the Dodgers and Yankees out. They may never sign a top free agent. I think feeling that way is completely fair. 5th... I would have given him a 7th year or 6/150 but I'm not responsible for keeping the current and future math on the spreadsheets on target.

If the Twins are going after Napoli for significant playing time. It's a win now move.

Personally I'd stay with Vargas and take the extra money that would be needed to land Napoli and apply that money toward Darvish. That's only because I still believe in Vargas and I don't give up easy. My Vargas support shouldn't be taken as any sign of disrespect toward Napoli.

OK... I'll bite. would we lose any talent? I don't believe that baseball would have a massive talent drain if compensation were cut in half for whatever reason. You might lose a couple of the multi sport guys to another sport if it fell far enough but the player has no other legitimate place to go at this current juncture. Would an average compensation of $2,2M be considered incredibly lucrative for playing a game? Obviously Yes. There are Doctors who consider the major league minimum to be incredibly lucrative. Would players be thrilled to play for that amount of money? Hard to answer this one... Depends if they knew better or not. Could they go to Japan or Korea and make ½ of what they make in MLB? At this moment...It seems the AAAA guy can go to Japan or Korea and make significantly more. Yu Darvish woud make significantly less. Let’s see if anyone is actually willing to address these questions. Task completed

If only we could see it play out. This feels like waiting patiently in a completely dark room for something to happen with a computerized voice over a loudspeaker every 3 minutes... "We appreciate your patience...your call will be answered by the next available customer service representative... for going on two months now.

Baseball is a monopoly. The normal requirements of attracting and retaining talent obviously does not apply. I can move from Grand Rapids to Cedar Rapids and continue my chosen career. Baseball players can't. Businesses have to offer competitive wages to retain my services if I have value. Baseball obviously does not... players can be stashed in the minor leagues at below poverty levels for 5 years with no leverage and have no choice but to work in Grand Rapids if that is where they are instructed to report. Why are you trying so hard to make this point?

Yeah but you can't get a decent plate of hot dish.

Yeah The Snowmobiling sucks in Southern California!!!

It depends on if you have a solid Plan B. If you got a solid achievable Plan B. Make the offer and put a clock on it. If it is Darvish or Bust... Gotta wait it out. I have no idea what has been offered and how it compares to everyone else... but... If they are not clearly higher than the competition for him. They ain't trying hard enough... IMO. If they ain't trying hard enough... the deadline will pass with nothing accomplished.

The situation kinds of reminds of a joke that I have heard many tell over my lifetime. I'm sure most of you have heard it... it goes like this: A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you." The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me." So the rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you." To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith." So the motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety." To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith." So the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you but you didn't save me, you let me drown. I don't understand why!" To this God replied, "I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter. Substitute "Rowboat", "Motorboat" and "Helicopter" with: "Young Productive Core", "Weak AL Central", "Competitive Luxury Tax", "Rebuilding teams all over the landscape", "Manageable Budget Space", "Future Expiring Contracts" and " An Early Injury to Santana" And it is easy to see that the Baseball Gods want Darvish in Minnesota!!!

If the Owner says... you can sign Darvish but that's it. If signing Darvish drains all of the remaining water from the well for the next 5 years. There is No Way Any GM would make the deal. I don't worry about the budget... because I'm pretty sure in Minnesota... they will never spend enough to exhaust it.

Nicely Done!!!

Kind of like Commission. Sell X amount of product and collect your commission check. Don't meet your goal... Tough break kid. The biggest problem with this... and I think big isn't strong enough... I'd say a HUGE problem would be: How do you convince anyone to play team baseball? How do you convince them they shouldn't swing for the million dollar home run every single time regardless of the situation. How do you ask a player to sacrifice without making a personal sacrifice. How do you convince players to supportive of the guy ahead of him on the depth chart. Why would a player risk any injury or be honest about injuries if he can no longer pad those important metrics after suffering the injury. Starting pitchers don't like the ball being taken from them right now. It will be interesting to see what they start saying when bringing in a reliever costs them money each time. I'd imagine... Pure chaos.

46 Starting Pitchers made 30 starts or more starts last year. (I'm being generous because 162 games with a 5 man rotation is actually 32.4 starts a year). 30 Teams Equals 1.5 Starters per team get through the entire season unscathed. (I know that these numbers are skewed by pitchers who were removed from the rotation without being caused by injury. However... the point is that... not many pitchers get through a full year). Now... Using 32 starts a year you are down to 30 Starting Pitchers in MLB that reached the level and that averages to an obvious 1 pitcher per team. In other words... this was going to happen anyway. It becomes an opportunity for Slegers or Gonsalves or someone else to show us something and they will need those chances. This is GOOD NEWS!!! See the bright side... C'mon everybody...

I agree completely. I have always felt that sometimes us fans tend to have tunnel vision on 1 through 5. Pitchers 6 through 10 are often overlooked. The way I see it... Santana and the others in the rotation were most likely going to go down at some point. This one just happens to be at start of the year. The perpetual possibility of starter injury needs to be baked in to roster construction. So you use #6 on the depth chart. #6 will and #7 will be necessary anyway. And #8 and #9. I also secretly hope... I would never state it publicly but I secretly hope that the Twins panic a little and goose up the parameters to land Darvish as a result.

I have no idea how this works in the Baseball World... I'm just wondering why they are still talking in parameters. Why no formal offer?

I know... it’s all I could come up with.

Couple Colon with the Niese signing and it sure looks like the Rangers have a game plan to fill out the rotation with cheaper options.

It's hard to feel sorry for guys making that kind of cash... So I won't. But... they gave up leverage during prime years for the expectation of a pay day that may not come due to a possible market correction under the current CBA. The next negotiation will be a difficult one because with every action there is an equal reaction. The players are going to demand a fair chunk of the overall pie.

In my opinion there isn't a single reason for the slow FA market this year, I believe there are multiple reasons that make sense in my head at least. Ted had an excellent article attempting to tackle the issue but I started thinking about a quote that Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto recently made. "You could argue you’re going to compete with more clubs to get the first pick in the draft than you would to win the World Series." So I tried to place all 30 teams into 5 badly named buckets based upon their probability of pursuing the top end of the market. Bucket 4 would be the teams that will set the market... and those teams are typically not market setters and that has to slow things down in theory. Bucket 1 (Out) Orioles - Will be gutted by Free Agency next year. Rays - They are always out at the top end. Will only look for bargains. A’s - They are always out. Will only look for bargains. Braves - They could jump in but I think taking the Dodgers money this year suggests that they are getting ready for next year. Marlins - Fire Sale in Progress Reds - Still in the beginning of their rebuild. Pirates - Cole and McCutchen Trade signifies intention. Bucket 2 (Teams that have been IN before but OUT this year) Blue Jays - No indication that they will spend this year. JD would be a nice addition to this team but I assume they are going to save some money for next year's free agent class. Tigers - Starting a rebuild - They will trade V-Mart, Miggy, Anyone... if they can find a taker. White Sox - Still in rebuild mode. Bucket 3 (Teams that have been IN before and considered in contention but hamstrung this year or done) Yankees - Competitive Balance Tax Complications - They have stated they want to stay under. Have to move money to participate. Red Sox - Already over the Tax threshold with the highest payroll in Baseball currently. They could spend more but they probably have a limit. Indians - There is a limit to how much Cleveland can spend. They've already let 3 bullpen arms walk along with Santana in favor of the cheaper Yonder Alonso Option. Angels - Up tight against the Tax threshold - They could spend some more but the top end is probably out of reach unless they move some money. Astros - I think they are done with the big deals... Team looks set... maybe just some clean up to do. No reason to spend bigger. Mariners - Payroll is currently higher than the Yankees. Top of the Market will push them over the Tax Threshold. Rangers - I'm not sure what is going on here. They have flat out stated that they are out. I'm not sure why. They can afford Darvish, Arrieta, JD or Hosmer. But they say they are out... so I'll put them in this bucket. Nationals - Up against the Tax Threshold... Trying to figure out how to keep Harper next year. Mets - Budget Minded... they have always been budget minded. They got a lot of holes... they will probably hang around the next level Free Agent if they do anything. Cubs - My opinion... But I believe they are trying to control their budget this year based on everything they have done so far. Dodgers - Up against the Tax threshold with very little wiggle room. They would have to move a lot of money to participate at the top end. They are clearly trying to reset the escalating penalty or the Kemp Trade makes no sense. Giants - They are right near the Tax Threshold of 197 Million. Clearly trying to build something with Longoria and McCutchen but clearly trying to stay under or else they would have went and got Cain. Rockies - Not historical big spenders but in contention so I put them in this bucket. They have already spent 100 million plus on their bullpen so I'm not sure they have the budget to go big. Probably looking at mid level 1st Base guys. Bucket 4 (Teams that could be in this year) Twins - Not historically a spender but they got room in the budget and a young team that is in contention. Phillies - I'm putting them in this bucket because they went out and got Santana... They have a tiny payroll currently and they are in a market that allows them to play with the big boys. Cards - I'm putting them in this bucket because they got some room in the budget within reason and the roster doesn't seem complete. Brewers - Young team in contention... Room in the Budget and the trading for Yelich and signing of Cain announced intention. D-Backs - They are in contention... They got budget space... I refuse to believe that they can't play at the top of the market. JD was amazing for them... no way they don't want that back. Padres - Only in this bucket because of rumors of Hosmer pursuit. However... if they are pursuing Hosmer... they could shift to someone else. Royals - Only in this bucket because of rumors of Hosmer pursuit. If it wasn't for that... they are easily in bucket 1.

I know... it’s all I could come up with.

This is an excellent post. It's really hard to argue any of it. I gave you a like... However... I'm still going to get the water to water it down. Baseball has a numbers problem that will have a bill to paid in the near future. Baseball needs to focus on cume in the short term and return to bleeding the customer for more after they restock with sell-able demographics.

Playing Time

You are absolutely right. However... I don't believe that quicker Free Agency is the answer. The Twins and small market brethren will get killed by this. Baseball needs hope in Pittsburgh and Kansas City to be truly strong. The owners and front offices need to realize that if they decide to play hardball with the free agents because the metrics are suggesting they should (and they do). They will force the players union to become impossible to satisfy during the next collective bargaining agreement negotiation.

I'll throw in another vote for Fastball Control. I liked watching him pitch but it was edge of my seat stuff because he never seemed in control. His stuff is decent but just OK... I like his slider it seems to be on the plus side but he can't live by that. He will need to spot his fastball in my opinion and that will make everything else more effective. He's just finding his way... if he finds it... he could carve out a career and help us win some games. If he doesn't... we will be looking for the next man up. I Hope he is putting the work in. It looks like he is lining up to open in the rotation. The ball is in his court.