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Wax Kepler

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Everything posted by Wax Kepler

  1. Wax Kepler
    2nd basemen are a dime a dozen. Polanco is far more valuable at SS even if not good, because he allows you to pick from about a half dozen strong 2B candidates and you can go with who's hot. Trading for a SS is the absolute worst idea. The team who seeks to trade is the more desperate and imo it shows, especially at a high value position. Want a mediocre SS? It's going to cost a prospect that hurts to give up. Think about someone in our minor league system who would hurt to give up. Now keep him in mind, do you still want to trade? Want to trade Noah Miller for Dejong? You know if it hurts, it is feasible. I'm interested with what those who want to go the trade route, what are you willing to give up? Name names. I bet most of their suggestions will be non starters, won't move the needle for the other team. If you are proposing a trade, remember, the prospect(s) you give up HAS TO HURT to do so. Now let's hear some suggestions...
  2. Wax Kepler
    I was saying this months ago. Compared to other shortstops, he will be making a pittance. Look how much less 2nd basemen make. Polanco is much higher paid relative to his 2nd base piers. This is the way to get more value out of the talent we have, as noted in the piece, there is a lot of talent blocked by Polanco at 2B, and Donaldson. Give Polanco a game or 2 off at SS by giving DH ABs, a game here or there at 2B, and a night off altogether every so often. Donaldson should get even more DH ABs, more nights off. Open up some playing time for the young guys. I still want them to sign Simmons up again. He can be behind Polanco on the depth chart, spot start at once a week or more, and if he bounces back to what he was he could be the SS pushing Polanco back to 2nd and be the bridge until they assess Royce.
  3. Wax Kepler
    First I heard of this was on the Athletic. Anyone let me know if someone came up with this idea before Dan Hayes. If not, Hayes is suspect. This sounds like something the organization is leaking because they got caught flat footed in regards to free agency and are now desperately searching for pitching. Enough so they're willing to lose Martin to acquire someone not as good as Berrios, and with no history with the team like we had with Berrios, nullifying any net gain we might have received in that trade. Berrios was saddened to leave the team, unless I'm mistaken. If Hayes is carrying water for the organization and doing journalism in bad faith he should be fired immediately and run out of the profession. And if the Twins are seriously considering this, Falvine should be fired for mismanagement and callousness to the fan base. Berrios was not only a fan favorite, but also worthy of a contract extension on merit alone. If Buxton hadn't been injured, Falvine would have been happy to send him packing rather than sign him to a very team friendly deal. The cracks are becoming apparent with this FO. They've had success before, but this last year, their mistakes are aggregious, save for Buxton who they would have traded even despite the discount. Only his injury status at the deadline prevented them from jettisoning another fan favorite. And what's the point? To save millions on homegrown, talented fan favorites so they can sign Colomes and Happs types. Don't make reasonable offers early in FA so we can end up with whatever is left? This FO is faltering. They're being clever by half. They better get their act together or the success that they've had will be forgotten after a few years of mediocrity.
  4. Wax Kepler
    Me too
  5. Wax Kepler
    I agree, the defense will be worse. The only option is a FA signing or trade. Options I'm aware of are Story, Iglesias, or Simmons, or a trade. I don't want a trade because I don't want to give up a good prospect because I don't think we're contenders in 2022. What do you prefer?
  6. Wax Kepler
    Palacios isn't in the plans to play a substantial amount at SS, you need only to look at his absence from the 40 man to assess that much. Martin has weaker arm and field grades than Polanco did as a prospect. Yet I keep hearing his name come up in the SS conversation while Polanco moving back is reviled. If you hate Polanco at SS, you shouldn't be including Martin as a candidate there. Lewis can't be relied upon as our opening day SS. So here's my preferences: 1. Trevor Story 2. Polanco/Simmons platoon. 3. Iglesias I hope they don't trade for someone to play SS. This isn't the year to be giving up prospects to make a run for the World Series. We're too far away from having a contender's rotation, we need a year to develop pitching.
  7. Wax Kepler
    Yes. See 2019.
  8. Wax Kepler
    You weren't "too mocking". All in good fun.
  9. Wax Kepler
    He's 60
  10. Wax Kepler
    The most recent successful run the Twins had, Polanco was our SS, followed by a horrible stretch where he played 2B.
  11. Wax Kepler
    How do you not like this contract? You have any idea what you get for 15m on the open market? Inflation adjusted, this is about the level of compensation for Ricky Nolasco. If you don't like this signing, you're not gonna like any.
  12. Wax Kepler
    "as soon as they can"
  13. Wax Kepler
    Twins better sign him as soon as they can before the FA pool dries up!
  14. Wax Kepler
    My preference would be for them to go out and get Story. I don't think the comparison to Donaldson, as mentioned above, is close. Story plays a premier position, is much younger, and doesn't have the injury history. He isn't gonna be leftovers like Donaldson was. I'm OK with Polanco moving back to SS if we can't land Story. We have so many options at 2B like Arraez, Gordon, Miranda, Martin. If Polanco continues to produce at the plate, then the defense gets a little worse but you can spend more money on pitching. They better sign Rodon in this scenario, otherwise where are they going to spend it if not Rodon or Story? I would sign Andrelton Simmons to backup Polanco. He could start against lefties moving Polanco to 2B and occasionally DH. Late in games if we're leading you could sub in Simmons for Arraez to bolster the defense moving Polanco over. Could Martin be a better option at SS than Polanco? I see MLB.com rates his arm as a 45 and defense at 50, so SS for the long term seems to me overly optimistic for him. But if it were to bridge a gap for Lewis than maybe he could play there in '22. I'm looking past 2022 anyway so Story for 5 or 6 years would would still be a fit, but I don't want to trade away prospects for a win now strategy.
  15. Wax Kepler
    They are sitting on a lot of cash and the good SPs are gone, why not spend it on Story? If they don't we're just going to end up with J.A. Happ and Colome type signings. We ended up with Donaldson a couple of years ago because we're trying to low ball everyone until we're forced to spend it on what's leftover after the other top players a picked through. Get F---ing agressive! Go get Story!
  16. Wax Kepler
    His ceiling is intact. He's probably best player in the world when healthy. His injury history is why he cost 100m and not 300m. I'd rather have Buxton, his injury history and contract than any of those comparable 300m guys. 10% isn't that bad when you look around the league and see lots of teams deal with that or worse every year.
  17. Wax Kepler
    Bust potential is exaggerated here. He'll only be 10% of the payroll at most, that's not much burden. If he plays out half his contract he's likely to outperform it, there's plenty of likelihood between boom and bust. If he reaches the incentives it'll be a bargain. Mauer's contract was longer and at least 20% of payroll as much as 25% except the last year (18%), way more. This is a team friendly contract. Many teams would love to have him to it. And it couldn't've happened to a nicer guy.
  18. Wax Kepler
    That we had a chance to sign Buxton for 100 mil and didn't is grounds to quit watching the team. I knew Berrios was gettable. Knowing they wouldn't pay a reasonable price for a homegrown product, how do you all feel about the chances they make a big splash for a FA pitcher? This is mismanagement. Indefensible.
  19. Wax Kepler
    If they only pay him 3 mil, he could spell Polanco and would be a good insurance plan if Polanco were out for extended period. I prefer we land a top SS in FA, but I would still like Simmons back if he's only a few million. He's slick with the glove and has at one point reached a level of fielding few ever have, if not only the great Ozzie Smith. I'd love to have his experience on my team and a solid backup defensive SS for cheap.
  20. Wax Kepler
    I mean whole package. If he hits like he did last year he's decent even if he's the 30th place defensively. I'd prefer we bring in a SS, but if it's Simmons, would you prefer him or Polanco to take majority of SS innings then?
  21. Wax Kepler
    Some seem to think we have multiple SS candidates in our farm system. I don't even consider Martin there except maybe backup, am I wrong? We'll be lucky if we have one prospect with starting SS potential and that's Lewis only, if even. How many baseball players in the world are there that could be considered good MLB SSs? 15? 20? It's such a small number that to assume Lewis is just waiting in the wings is disrespectful to the craft. He has to prove himself there and has not done that yet. And Martin seems like such a longshot to land at SS I'm not even considering it for a second. Simmons isn't one of the better because he was so poor at the plate and isn't what he used to be in the field, but he used to be one of the greatest defensive SSs of all time, so I would like him back, even if we landed one of the big FAs. I think we should approach this as if we currently do not have a decent SS in the entire organization right now, unless Polanco moves back. I'd be OK with that because we have plenty of guys who could play 2B in 2022 and it would have the side benefit of opening up 2B for others. Polanco is the only player we have right now who could be relied upon as opening day SS.
  22. Wax Kepler
    I like the trade, but would be critical of it if the advice is to outbid for an "ace", that is the topic. I just think if the Twins were looking drop a lot of money on a pitcher to lead the 2022 rotation, they already had Berrios who I'm guessing will cost a lot less in his final year than a FA equivalent. If they were to drop a fortune on a guy to lead the rotation, couldn't it have been Berrios? Because you could have him cheaper this year and outbid for him next year anyway. He could've been the ace this article is referring to. Anybody better than Berrios is going to have an exorbitant price, do I think Berrios and his agent would have listened to and accepted the bounty the author of this article is implying we spend? I have my doubts the agent was instructed to cover his ears with his hands if approached by the Twins with an offer to extend the contract. If they'd heard a number the likes of the one that's gonna land a fish bigger than Berrios in FA, I doubt they would've balked. But I could be wrong. It all just tells me that they aren't going to do what is being suggested in the article. Take it with a grain of salt, because I'll admit I am severely biased toward offering the massive overpay recommended here to a SS rather than a pitcher.
  23. Wax Kepler
    Great point on Berrios and I think it's telling. Why would they not extend him, then turn around and give huge amount of money to a FA? If Berrios was on the market, he would be the type the Twins would or should go after, reliable and young. They could've just caved into his demands if they were looking spend big money on a pitcher. Kinda off topic but I think the FO made a huge mistake not extending Buxton if his only hangup was about incentives. That's such a poor decision if true that on top of recent disastrous FA signings that could get them on the hot seat.
  24. Wax Kepler
    I'd outbid for a top SS rather than a top pitcher. I do this after figuratively "outbidding" for Buxton. That would make for a helluva lineup defensively and offensively. Whatever money is left, it won't be anything close to enough for an ace, but might lower the ask from Pineda type FAs who will look to benefit from such a lineup. Also benefited would be Ober, Ryan, and whoever else rises out of the farm as well as our bullpen.
  25. Wax Kepler
    Arraez's OPS and OPS as the best measure of a hitter are central to my side of the debate. Fair enough. I think fielding stats are less reliable than say OPS is for a hitter, but your point taken, I won't say sub-par anymore.
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