tony&rodney

Kudus to a Minnesota baseball player, Aaron Senne. This is a great ruling for our country and any person who has worked for a living.

I'm curious why the San Diego Padres are able to spend so much more on their roster than the Twins. Seems like $30-40 million more might sound about right, but they are approaching 2X. This is partially relevant to how the roster is constructed.

Sonny Gray is a really good starting pitcher. Jose Berrios is slightly better. There - it's solved. I'm sad that Berrios isn't on the Twins roster, but I'm happy we have Gray.

I think there will be changes. By putting it out there and asking .... current roster loses 100 games, which is not a #1 draft pick anymore.

.... which still made put him among the top three players on the team. Both Donaldson and Cole are consummate professionals dedicated to their craft and focused on winning; they are delighted to be on the same team because they want to win the World Series.

All of this is why the Angels cut ties with Simmons. He may surface as a late inning substitute, at best.

You have many interesting thoughts in your comments but it was likely the Yankees who suggested Urshela because he is an expensive utility player. Both Polanco and Gordon on the current roster are better at shortstop than Urshela and we want Polanco at 2B and we want to use Gordon as a utility if/of. The Twins could have, at the very least, held back Rortvedt whom I believe to hold potential going forward.

The first three might be possible. I'm afraid that Sanchez, being a DH, is a sunk cost. Maybe he hits better in Minneapolis. Glasnow, Ramos, Pederson, Pillar, and McHugh would be too rich for the Twins based on recent trends.

An interesting article and a wide variety of comments that all omit a most important point of inquiry. Baseball will have record revenues, a new CBA was signed, and the curse of Covid looks to be completely lifted. This should result in terrific optimism for businesses involved in the entertainment industry, including baseball. The omission is any reference to the Twins expected potential budget. Target Field was built with public funds with the express promise by Jim Pohlad that the Twins would use the increased revenues to field a competitive team. The franchise has had strong earnings and slowly increased the budgets with a particularly increased expenditure after the Falvey and Levine hires. A low budget from the conservative Twins fans put a 2022 roster at around $130 million. It would be easy to justify a $150 million team. The Josh Donaldson signing was the first foray into spending for the Twins and before the trade with the Yankees their bottom line was near $100 million. This left room for an additional $30+ million to spend using the conservative numbers. I myself built my version of a 2022 team at $120 million. All of the talk about the problems with a contract such as Donaldson's doesn't work when you look at the numbers. When I read these comments I wonder if the Twins are tipping toward $150 million and look at the numbers. Nope, they are not. If the Pohlads had paid for Target Field with their own money it would be entirely their own deal. There should be some minimum of consideration of this history. There were a number of free agents available this year. The Twins signed Dylan Bundy. While it is possible that Trevor Story could be signed, this seems unlikely if Story sticks to leaked numbers like 6/$120 million. It is totally possible that solid trades could be made, yet no two pitchers would add any more than $18 million (Manaea, Castillo) as a maximum and the best trades would only add near $9 million (Montas, Lopez) to the expense sheet. All of these moves and keeping Donaldson would have still left the team with a roster around $130 million, the preferred number by Twins Daily. What is the direction or plan for the Twins in consideration of their possible budget? What are the numbers and justification? It is impossible to have any suggestions or justify any cuts unless there is some idea of a general range of where the limits of spending stand.

Yes, your comments are all true. Which begs the question - do fans who oppose JD also oppose excellence and winning? Inconceivable.

I'm totally opposed to Manfredball, but want to acknowledge that your sentence above makes sense.

The Oakland A's would not do this trade. Urshela is a utility infielder that costs $6.5 million and there are bound to be teams that have placed a higher value for Chapman. I would welcome a trade for Manaea and/or Montas and a FA signing like Trevor Story would free the Twins to offer Royce Lewis. Maybe a trade of Arraez, SWR, Lewis, and Strotman for Montas and then Larnach for Manaea.

What does this mean? I don't understand. Others have made some references to Donaldson's attitude, etc. There have been responses that called JD "cocky", which apply to virtually all decent performers. Do you know him personally? I don't but have watched him play so many times for Oakland, Toronto, Atlanta, and for the Twins. He is intense, plays great defense, is a good baserunner despite leg issues, rarely has a bad at bat, and was always one of the three best players on his team. It was also reported how much young players enjoyed learning from him. Josh Donaldson is a winner and if one wants to see their team win, then that is the style of player needed to do so.

A big omission of the players in the recent CBA was not slowing the constant shuffling of players through waivers. It was cut to 5 times per year but going back to the rules of 15 days mandatory in the minors when sent down before recall, cutting the number down to three or four waivers, and eliminating all of the exceptions was a miss because the players lose days and are used poorly. The managers can play every game as a low scoring affair. If baseball doesn't want extra innings go with a tie (I don't like that either). Baseball loses much of its charm as an athletic form of chess whenever needless rule changes are enacted.

Urshela is a utility player only, same position as Arraez and Gordon. Arraez might get plugged in to third if the Twins don't like Miranda, but I'm not exactly sure what else Miranda needs to prove in the minor leagues. Sanchez is a DH. If you saw him play enough behind the plate you know why the Yankee pitchers asked for the other catcher. Maybe the Twins can trade both of the new guys to save some money.

This brings up a very fair question ... What is a fair budget for the Twins? Is it $70-90, $90-110, $110-130? Does anyone remember that Target Field was built with public funds and there was am expressed pledge to spend? JD was on a team with a $90 million roster. Was there enough money to add players? The next two years? JD is the only decent free agent the Twins have signed. Maybe some people are "a tough crowd" because Bundy just doesn't do it. Here is hoping that something breaks soon. Right now I'm worried about losing Polanco and Kepler. Buxton has a no trade clause, thankfully.

What a damning commentary on the players. Apparently it is a drag to play extra inning games. I would rather see ties. This is worse than yesterday's trade. I turned off extra inning games the past two years.

HaHa! I actually thought that right after I hit submit.

Agree too. I'll miss JD because he is a real professional ballplayer who takes good at bats, fields well, and despite leg issues is adept on the bases.

My point was that it would be nearly impossible for the Twins to spend at previous or expected levels. Plenty can change in a hurry, as we saw on the weekend, but the trend is worrisome.

FWIW, Greinke is the only free agent still available. So no FA, unless you are begging for Happ to return. There are trades that could be made but none for a pitcher that makes more than $10 million.

Polanco, Donaldson, and Buxton were our best players last season. We still have two of them, at least right now.

Via baseballprospectus.com TWINS PAYROLLS Year Opening Day 26-man Year End 40-man CB Tax 40-man 2022 $000,000,000 (00) $000,000,000 (00) $000,000,000 (00) 2021 $125,277,666 (16) $125,983,176 (17) $145,511,247 (16) 2020 $ 45,620,603 (18) $ 52,627,942 (19) $168,319,022 (16) 2019 $119,651,933 (18) $125,205,980 (18) $139,483,897 (18) 2018 $128,713,226 (18) $131,186,562 (19) $143,820,218 (18) It is noteworthy that the last two years were tough financially, yet this must be balanced against large profits for all of the previous years. Also to be noted is that the books are private and so all figures are rough estimates. The figure repeatedly referenced in trading Josh Donaldson is a savings of $50 million. That doesn't account for the roughly $14-15 million cost of taking on a utility infielder and a DH with enormous power but a bat with many more holes than we ever saw from Miguel Sano. It also neglects the loss of a decent shortstop and a catcher with potential. Many have stated that the Twins wanted to clear money to trade for pitchers. There aren't any pitchers making more than $10 million to acquire (Montas - $5.2, Manaea - $10, Castillo - $8.0, Mahle - $5.0, Lopez - $3.75). Adding any two of these pitchers in trades and signing Trevor Story would still leave the Twins around last years budget. So there is work to be done and we are hoping the final roster gets straightened out. The angst about JD's contract and the budget are only relevant if the Twins are trending toward roster budgets much lower than seen in the Falvey era.

A couple of simple observations, but in consideration that further moves may obliterate the views. The Twins stated that trading Garver would strengthen their infield dramatically and Rortvedt as a 2nd catcher is vastly superior defensively. Whoops, that got blown up. The Twins have stated that they will absolutely be competitive in 2022. So far this is difficult to see. The Twins may be signing a free agent today but they just traded the only expensive free agent they have ever signed. It seems like agents and players might be aware of the Twins past and present policies. Looking at the roster today compared to last year: weaker at SP, questions galore with RP, weaker behind the plate, Sano is poor at 1B, Polanco = awesome, weaker at 3B, weaker at SS (seems impossible), LF is unknown but Kirilloff is better at 1B and all current options are plodders defensively, Buxton = awesome (crossed fingers), Kepler - hopeful of bat revival but great defensively, and weaker at DH. A March 14, 11:15 am review puts the team in rough shape. There are certainly major moves to be made still, but along with the biggest initial issue, starting pitching, there are huge concerns with this team's defensive skills. Falvey must have at least three or four moves planned. So we wait to read and hear what is next.

I guess I am way off on the Twins. The AL Central isn't that terrific and I believed that a budget of $120 million would bring the Twins to a position of contention. My figure is below what Twins Daily had suggested and well below what the market can bear, especially in light of the new CBA and emerging revenue streams. JD is a professional player in my opinion. I don't know him personally. I am not aware of any issues he had either, but it is very difficult to see where the team is going when it chooses mediocrity. Urshela is a decent, albeit expensive, utility player and Sanchez is a DH only with mighty issues. Signings like Bundy, Happ, or Pineda are not helpful looking back or going forward. But maybe Bundy wins a Cy Young. The future is unpredictable. I'm not down on Rocco in any way but he is among the most inexperienced managers in baseball and he had Cruz, JD, Adrianza, and Hill as well as some solid assistants now gone to pave the way in the past few years. Obviously, time will tell how the changes play out. I hope everything works out.