tony&rodney

Passan has a great job. Here we go: sign Realmuto, Bauer, and Hendriks for a St.Louis type payroll of $150+. Sure, not my money. I do promise to watch or listen all season, buy a hat, and go to a few games. Go Twins. I wanted Springer too but didn't think we should block Rooker/Larnach/Kirilloff. Real - Dodgers like Hendriks, which is a reason our team needs him.

Cruz may be risky to sign for two years but any ideas that a combination of rookies or others taking a turn through the designated hitter slot putting up the numbers we saw from Nelson Cruz are pure folly. I am ok with a team sans Cruz if that money is spent to prop up the bullpen or rotation. It sure seems like he earned another contract despite our knowledge that business is not run on performances from the past. The decision is can he still hit? Yes - pay him. Nervous - move on.

This would be quite a gamble due to the size and length of the contract, but especially set against the uncertainty of the unknown budget for the 2021 season. There isn't much room for Darvish in a vastly reduced roster expenditure, but there is a chance if the Twins hold the line. I would not expect a trade for Darvish to return one of the Twins top prospects but other options may be available. While I really like the idea of Darvish pitching for the Twins, the obstacles are numerous at this time. Who knows what direction the Cubs are going in at this point.

Randballs Stu sure creates some fun satire ... chuckles all around - good stuff.

Followed Wells and like his competitiveness - hope he has a fine career. He needs to be healthy and just get an opportunity to pitch.

Growing up we noted that people from Minneapolis had limited intelligence and thus the alphabetical and numerical streets/avenues to allow for their citizens to find the way home from their Protestant churches. In St. Paul we had neighborhoods and the streets were just randomly named and the numbering system was whatever because any kid could remember where he was and knew where to get to from there. The individual parts of the city had cliches aplenty too. Finally, it was a sin to cross into Minneapolis, where the boys were weak and the girls ....

Josh Donaldson was a great move last winter. Of course I say this because I shamelessly put on every post, "Why not Donaldson" and "He makes the Twins team better." Still feel that it was a solid move - didn't anticipate Covid-19. This year i feel like Liam Hendriks is the player to sign. A reliever is more of a risk but Rogers and Duffey are really tough in the 7th and 8th inning. Joe Nathan redux. The other player that seems interesting to me may not be as good as the picture. Ketel Marte might be a real good player in a lineup like the Twins. He can spell three important positions in the middle of the field and spot start elsewhere twice a week. In any event, the Twins do need to make a splash in 2021, whether through a dramatic signing (Bauer), modest (Hendriks), or through a trade. We can hope. Right?

Big boy.

Sign Bauer, have him pitch the day after Berrios and then we shall see who is better. Why not?

The post concerns non-tendered outfielders and both Almora and Dahl are good baseball players. They may blossom with fresh starts. DocBauer makes it simple though - payroll. What will payroll be next season? If it is around $110+ million .... hmmm? I foresee troubles. If it is $120-130 million range, the Twins have excellent options. If it is the same as last year, then the team should be really good. I'm hoping the Twins proceed aggressively toward a $120 million minimum payroll. This allows for a few trades and signings and hopefully soon. Almora works at any price, but Dahl only works with a higher payroll.

Time will tell if Lynn is the difference for the White Sox. Dane Dunning is NOT to be compared with either of Duran or Balazovic. Both of the Twins prospects have better stuff: velocity and movement-visual test. Dunning is more aptly compared to Lewis Thorpe. Decent pitches with modest upside, most likely to fill in the back side of a rotation. I'm not sure the Twins trade Thorpe for Dunning if they each had the same number of options left. Weems might be something. The Lynn trade is definitely good for both teams. Chicago loses nothing that they would use this year. The real danger this week is if the Twins let Liam Hendriks get away. It is one thing if he signs with a National League team, but another if the White Sox haul him in. In my mind, Hendriks is a must at any budget from $120 to150 million. If the Twins are going with a roster that comes in at or below $110 million, then old Liam is too rich. At some point a team will take a chance. Last year Donaldson was the choice. Failure to act this winter will negate his signing to some extent. I love the odds of the Twins top prospects producing at the major league level, just not all of them at the same time. The Twins needs to add a difference-maker.

The Twins will need to hope that those who insist that Lance Lynn is worthless are correct. Lynn as a #3 for the White Sox looks like a decent move for them to me.

Put Kirilloff in the 3 hole, with Donaldson right behind him. Both of these guys will take a walk but are not afraid to swing on any count.

That's all we got. I took your comment to mean we should keep dreaming. Why not? If the Twins can't invest in a winter where uncertainty provides some unusual opportunities, then the team will slide down the standings, attention to the games will diminish, and it is back to the dark years. Kirilloff and the other wunderkind need a strong set of veterans to help them succeed. I absolutely want to see a few rookies on the team next April. Profits can be made with a choice to overlook the caution that is prevalent from Covid-19. The larger picture of the Twins finances show strength in both valuation and running profits versus loss over the past decade. Successful businesses do lose money on occasion and look for the chances to recoup their investments at the proper time. My idea is that the budget this year ranges from $135-145 million. That's my dream. Why not?

I liked a suggestion by Nash Walker some time ago for Ketel Marte, but agree wholeheartedly with any possibility at Chris Martin as well. Love Martin, an excellent ballplayer, but he does K often. You can't wrong if you have Chris Martin as a utility player. Why would the Dodgers trade him?

I just signed Trevor Bauer for a team budget of $146 million. Think Big - Yes.

Wait, I saw the jersey number 57.

A rotation of many players in the DH position would work. However, we do need to consider whether Cruz still has life. If the answer is yes, sign him back into his slot and if he falls off the Earth there should still be players to rotate in his absence. Signing Cruz is more than just a gesture of thanks for his last two years, but rather a bet on 2021. Sometimes you need to push in.

Yes to a budget that is equal to last Spring, before Covid overtook our world. The demand for entertainment will be high this summer and people will fill the stadium from July to October with a strong team to support. Nash, you proposed a trade for Ketel Marte at one point and I still wonder what this would demand from the Twin's side. I'm guessing that Nelson Cruz would agree to 2/$26, but what do I know. Another item of interest for me is the availability of Royce Lewis as a player to use 5-6 days per week. This year the team really should use a young pitcher as a #5 starting pitcher. I propose Duran or Dobnak with the other in the bullpen. Is there a way to get Lance Lynn for lesser prospects? Many on this site think Lynn is a waste, but he seems to have another year of bullets. I'm fine with Kluber and/or Hill and think Walker might be a bargain, if not a difficult signing. The player I would target above all others is Liam Hendriks; velocity and control is a solid combination. The idea of a budget around $140 million is very feasible and my hope is that the Twins agree, sign and trade for the right players, and make a bundle of profit in 2021 winning it all.

This is a very reasonable take for the next Twins roster. You come in pretty low and favor the owner's pockets and there isn't anything wrong with that position. The analysis of the Atlanta Braves' finances and a few of the contracts handed out thus far indicate there are monies to continue baseball on a financial basis similar to last year before the truncated season. I would expect a budget closer to $135-145 million for the Twins this coming season. Whatever the outcome, I support the Twins and this plan is eminently reasonable.

Mesmerized. We watched Kluber pitch so many games and are entranced, thinking he could be just what the Twins need at less than he was with Cleveland; a signing worth the gamble. I like Kluber. Trevor Rosenthal and Kirby Yates seem like excellent fits but I just love the power/control feature that Hendriks brings to the mound. I'm all in there. A number of options are appealing among swing utility players, but I find myself wondering if a young player like Royce Lewis might thrive playing four or five days per week. One of the struggles of mlb is the length of the season for rookies and having a chance to be sifted into a semi-regular position might be beneficial, especially if there aren't the demands or pressures that accompany the role of a starter.

If someone is among the top ten at their position in the history of the game .... how are they not a sure-fire first-ballot hall of famer? I'm going to defer to Jaffe to argue this one for me. I get really confused why Joe Mauer doesn't get the proper recognition he deserves for his career. No matter what your age, it is unlikely the Twins ever have another catcher in your lifetime that matches his skills and performance level.

Tony Oliva was really my only real hero in life. Thus, zero chance at rational thought about the man. He and Rod Carew came to my school in 1967 and talked with everyone as if we were family; an hour of milling around, pictures, cards handed out, and a two five minute talks. I still remember their genuine kindness and joy of visiting with us kids. Tony is one of those people who anyone can approach and visit. His passion for baseball and more specifically life is a lesson for all. I'm not sure I have ever met or talked with anyone as sweet or kind to the random public who stopped to say hello to him in the days where he sat just below the concourse in the top rows behind home plate at the Metrodome. I sold beer and saw countless people stop and say hello to Tony O. On a number of occasions through the years I asked pitchers who faced Tony Oliva on many occasions in competitive action for their assessment of him as a peer. Without hesitation, each stated that Oliva was easily among the top ten hitters of their era. When I remember the state of medicine in the 1960s and early 1970s, I recall how knee operations differed from the current years. Knees surgery meant being filleted and spending six weeks in bed and a year before reasonable mobility in those times. My trio of knee surgeries in the twenty-first century allowed me to limp home and start rehab in a few days. The accomplishments of Tony Oliva are legendary and the fact of his omission from the Hall of Fame is unfortunate for baseball. Ask Sandy Koufax or any American League pitcher from 1964-1974. I will never forget watching him hit a wicked line drive off of the center field fence at Metropolitan Stadium in his last year and seeing him land on first base, stop, and look to the dugout for the expected pinch runner, and then limp off of the field. Nobody in Twins history has ever hit line drives like Tony O. Nobody.

Jaffe presents the case for anyone to understand and see - Mauer is a first ballot HOF player. Jaffe and Jaws aside, Mauer is a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. Phenomenal athlete and baseball player, he was underrated by too many.

It would be tough to lose both Rosario and Cruz. I expect Rosario to be tendered, perhaps against the grain of public opinion. My issue with either of the two newly available bats, Renfroe and Nunez, is their Ks and OBP. The Twins have the money and the flexibility to aim higher.