Brandon

I see the Twins are talking with Kyle Kendrick another 4th starter....yay

I also saw the Angels were asking about Escobar and talking about a reliever Pestano. More disappointingly Neshek signed with the Astros. And Volquez is looking for reasonable money so he may come back up.

I say sign him. We are 1 good starting pitcher away from being a good team. Plus I wonder if we could trade Nolasco to the Reds for one of their starting pitchers who is only 1 year away from free agency. The Reds get a pitcher controlled for 3 years in exchange for a slightly better one controlled for 1. That would improve our rotation and give us the flexibility to bring up new talent. Even with just the signing we would have 4 starters capable of going 200 innings with at least league average ERA. another way to think of this is Santana will likely pitch around 200 innings and give up around 80 runs. compared to our 4th starter he is replacing from last year Correia and May combined to give up 111 runs in 174 innings. That's over a 30 run improvement there alone. Or you could look at it this way another option Edison Volquez is looking for a 2/20 deal and I can see that happening pretty quickly.

So far the Pirates win day 2 with Liriano and the Cubs came in 2nd with Montero and the Angels third with Butera trade. pretty quiet day overall.

I am hoping we get Neshek on a 2 or 3 year deal. That's a worthwhile reunion. Neshek and a starting pitcher, they'll probably get either Vogelsong or Volquez. I would be open to a trade if there is a salary dump to be had. The ideal pitcher is one who is here on a 1 year contract as we have several pitchers who will be ready and the free agent market will be huge next year. That would satisfy me that the Twins are trying to be competitive next season while the younger talent arrives. Note I am note endorsing the Twins sign the V starting pitchers just that's who they are targeting. I prefer someone on a short term contract that can pitch 200 innings. I would be upset if the Twins go for less. I am tired of the Dumpster Diving.

Cross Butera off your wish list too as he just went to the Angels...http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/12/angels-acquire-drew-butera-from-dodgers.html

I get the feeling if the money is equal Neshek would resign here as he would be closer to family and I think that would matter a lot to him. So if the Twins want him they probably can have him. Plus signing Neshek would make me feel better about signing Vogelsong if that happens as Vogelsong can pitch 5-6 innings and Neshek can pitch the 6th or 7th inning

While I personally agree with Hunter, my issue with Berardino pressing Hunter is I am tired of the self appointed PC Police. Hunters signing was about baseball and the gay issue was brought front and center and made a big deal. This point of view was not discussed in your podcast. I follow baseball to get away from this type of garbage. I don't want to discuss politics when watching baseball other than maybe the politics of why an organization makes the moves they make based on baseball and financial reasons. Also I am not hugely religious so that does not affect my views. As far as my logic to support the signing is exactly in line with what Bonnes said. There isn't a lot out there and its a 1 year deal, He can hit, RF is smaller in Target so that helps and we have Schaeffer as a defensive replacement to further help minimize it. So the move is not the worst and there wasn't a lot out there either. Also I think if Hunter can play 2 more seasons his Hall of Fame candidacy at least becomes a debate whether that can happen remains to be seen.

I would be content with a .775 OPS from Mauer. I am fine with anything over .750. You start going lower its going to be because his OBP is dropping further. If that drops to the .350 range and Slugs sub .400 due to lower batting average then he will not be providing near enough value to justify staying at 1B full time and possibly even a starting job full time despite his contract. He could need to change his approach to add power or possibly could be a bench payer the last 2 years of his contract.

I have .300/ .375/ .400 I don't think he hits for much power. 30-35 2bs and 5-7HR won't give you a .160 isolated power.

May be you should compare Hunter to what was actually available on the market instead of what you wanted in an OF. That alone will make you feel better about signing Hunter. There isn't much out there in fact trades are likely to occur cause there are so few bats left on the market. Neshek is a good reliever. I hope we get him. Our offense is such that we really nee a solid starter who can pitch league average ERA and 200 innings and we will compete. I don't think Terry Ryan is bad in any way shape or form. last season we wanted TR to sign Drew at SS. Not signing him worked out in so many ways. Escobar and Santana both established themselves as good Major leaguers and the draft pick we would have given up turned out to be Burdi who is on pace to be up late next year as a dominate set up man.

If we start both May and Meyer in the rotation are you comfortable with May, Millone and Pino as our top options to come in and pitch? I think the Twins prefer another veteran for at least half a season if nothing else like Corriea this year. I hope we don't resign him. So what I am saying is I bet the Twins prefer the extra depth so we don't end up relying on players who don't belong in the majors.

If we signed Neshek for the bullpen next week, I will be content. (I know Terry Ryan has said they want to sign a reliever). This signing does several things. It helps fill the reunion quota, makes our bullpen more Minnesota (with Theilbar and Perkins already from Minnesota), and gives us another good reliever. If the Twins get their pitcher next week for the rotation all the better. Then we can just sit around and wait for the season to start.

He could probably be had on a 1 year deal and would be easy to trade at the all star break so we can bring someone up to replace him.

Jeff Bagwell who I think is still on the ballet and Baines are the only ones who may not end up in the Hall with over 1525 RBIs. Delgado and Jeff Kent are the only other ones over 1500 not in. Granted Griffey, Sosa and others from the steroid era are not in either but most will be. The ones that won't is more because of the steroids. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RBI_career.shtml If Torii plays next year his hitting stats will be very similar to Jeff Kent. Torii will have more hits over 2500 to 2461. HR will be close as Kent has 377 to I estimate 370 for Torii. Kent has an MVP award and Hunter has 9 GG. Torii will have 200 SB to Kent's 96. and the RBI's will be similar but Hunter will have fewer RBI's. But Kent had a bad relationship with the Media while Hunter has a good one. McGriff had 1550 RBI and didn't make the HOF either. Kent and McGriff are also below 1000 career extra base hits which I consider a bench mark for sluggers. So I think right now he is not a Hall of Famer. He needs 2 more seasons to make this a serious discussion but I think he ultimately needs more than 1525 RBI's, 1000 extra base hits to go with his 9 gold gloves. 2 more seasons gets his hits total over 2500 maybe 2550ish. a 3rd season gets him to 2700. I think 3 seasons even if he is not that good in the third one gets him in.

The Twins have Santana to go out to CF if Hicks doesn't make the Team. This will all be decided in spring training and throughout the first few months of the season. But I suspect Hicks has a shot and Santana is there in case he cant cut it. I know TR was concerned because Hicks wasn't driving the ball during his September call up. Regardless I believe this season is Hicks last chance to make it. Also as far as the rest of the roster is concerned. I think the Twins value stability and experience so they probably only want one maybe 2 rookies in the pen at a time. so I can see them signing a reliever if they can find one they like. The Twins will not spend big there but they are usually successful in finding good relievers so I wont question much who they sign there. The rotation is the main area of concern. My fear is they sign someone like Masterson who is a question mark going into next year. I would rather the Twins trade for a solid pitcher then sign a question mark. we already have Nolasco as our question mark and while I am confident he will turn it around you never know it may not be as much of a turn around as I hope. based on the free agents out there I like Liriano, Volquez, and Ervin Santana. If the Twins decide to sign pitchers coming back from injury I hope they sign several like Scott Baker, Johan Santana, and Anderson or Medlin. (Ok Anderson would have to be one for sure then any of the others as a back up option). Scott Baker and Johan is going with the theme of getting the band back together they are not necessary but would be fun to see what they have left at this point.

I think he was 6th in MVP vote in 2002. He was voted in 4 or 5 other votes but yeah he didn't garner tons of support there but he is accumulating stats though.

Here's another question. 3000 Hits is considered an automatic. How many RBI's = an automatic? I used to think it was 1500. I think all of the players with 1500 RBIs are either on the ballot, waiting their 5 years or are in the HOF. Their may be an exception in the last few years due to steroids but how many RBI's does it take?

Yeah if a few things get done. we need a return to form from Nolasco. (200 innings around a 4.00 ERA) This is not unreasonable to expect. we also need to sign another pitcher who can throw 200 innings with an era in the high 3.s. (this would replace Corriea's4.94 and May's 7.88 era in the rotation from last year) and May, Meyer, or Millone will need to step up and e a solid 5th starter and replacement fillers throughout the year to replace Deduno, Pelfry, Pino and others from last year. Our bullpen is already pretty solid. We could use 1 more solid arm but we do have lots of options in the minors.

Torii currently has over 1300 RBI's in his career to go along with almost 200 SB, 331 HR, 476 2Bs and 9 GGs and 2 Silver Sluggers, 2300+ hits and 846 extra base hits. If he continues to produce he should be just over 1400RBI's at the end of the season and around 2500 hits for his career. with hopefully 350 -355 HR over 500 2Bs (crosses the 900 total extra base hits) and maybe he gets the 7 stolen bases to get to 200 for his career. 9 Gold Gloves in the OF rank 6th all time with Griffey JR, Mays, Ichiro, Kaline, Andrew Jones and Roberto Clemente (All-time leader with 12) ahead of him. So over his career he has shown to hit for power, drive in runs, has some speed, played great defense, and is well respected. I think he would still need another season to get closer to 1500 RBIs and also to accumulate around 950 extra base hits for the discussion to get serious but do you feel he can make it to the Hall? Also remember the ones who vote for Hall membership also love that he gives them quotes and helps makes their jobs easier. Also remember he played a lot in the steroid era without using the stuff. What criteria would you use to judge his career for HOF candidacy?

Last year we improved our run differential by over 100 runs over the 2012 season. we should have been a 72-75 win team last year based on that. I expect next year Nolasco will rebound to the 12-15 game winning 200 inning pitcher we expect and that gives us 3 decent starters with Hughes, Gibson and Nolasco. A 4th starter and Millone, Meyer or May as the 5th starter gives us depth in the rotation and likely more than enough improvement over Corriea (4.94 ERA), Deduno (while in the rotation 5.91 ERA) Pelfry (7.99 ERA), Pino (5.07) , and May's tryout (7.88 ERA) at the end of the season. That alone will improve our rotation from one of the worst in the league to 6th -8th range making our ability with a bullpen that is above average 4-6th range as a better than average pitching with high scoring offense = a winning season on paper. With Nolasco shaving a run off of his ERA, a 4th starter shaving 1.5 runs off of Corriea and continued development from the 3 competing for the last spot which should equal at least 1 or 2 full runs shaved off of what our 5th starters did last year, our run differential will improve enough to make us a winning team and possibly a contender.

If you are worried about his Defense just remember we have Schaefer available to deploy in the late innings of a game and the Twins RF is smaller than Detroits RF. Does this make everything better??? no but it does minimize the negative impact of his decline in the OF the best we can. Also Torii can still drive in 80-90 RBI's next season and that too will negate some bad plays. Overall this is the best we could hope for a 1 year contract from a solid player. Now its time for the real debate who plays CF next season Santana or Hicks and will Parmalee be outrighted with the Hunter signing?

I think signing Hunter is a good thing. Its not as bad as you think. its one year, he's gonna hit 15-20 HRs with 30ish 2Bs and drive in 80-90 RBIs. plus our RF is smaller than Detroit's so defense won't stick out too much. Our offense should be a top 5 offense if Santana, Suzuki and Escobar can have repeat seasons. If we can find another solid starter we should be able to contend next year and at least be over .500.

It was also tried in 91 with Jack Morris leading the young pitchers on the Twins staff and that worked out pretty well.

I would prefer the Twins sign Hunter. All the front office has to do is increase their offer and Hunter can change is mind. If we sign Ichiro which I wouldn't be against as a back up/ platoon. I wouldn't want to see him get a ton of AB. It would almost be like giving up on the season if he is their choice though. It would feel like the Corriea signing. a useful player but we want someone who has more of an impact on the game.