ThejacKmp

I saw it coming. I proclaimed it loudly on this site and in my personal life. Then again I'd done the same thing the two years before that so perhaps that's not much of an achievement. The Twins don't have a left-handed first baseman coming up the pipeline. The reports that Sano will be a 1B/DH this year seem premature and pessimistic. I expect him to be mostly a 3B for the next few years. Rooker can play DH/1B/OF so he's not going to push Joe out. I don't see the Twins dipping into free agency. Lewin Diaz is 2-4 years away. Joe will have another good year and sign a 2 year $16 million deal with the Twins. This will let him retire as a Twin.

Perhaps you should read the back and forth before inserting yourself. Directing your comment at that snippet means you entirely misunderstood what the conversation was about. It had nothing to do with the truth of the allegation, it had to do with the response of a fan to a player doing something heinous. It might have been an interesting topic for you if you'd taken a chance to understand the back and forth. Alas you did not.

People who are 90 are still able to learn from mistakes, ridiculous to make age a part of it. Or do you have the magic age where people suddenly are set in their ways? What is that age? I want to know so I know what my deadline is for learning things. Stop telling people what being a true fan is. People are going to go through their own internal moral process with this. If I come to the conclusion that I can't support someone who acts this way, that doesn't make me less of a fan. And booing him doesn't mean I don't view him as a person. Actions have consequences and are a signal of inner character. My boss and my wife and my friends judge me on my actions, would a professional athlete be any different? And stop trying to excuse this behavior because "women have been trying to use him." That wouldn't make this any more understandable or okay. It's insulting and crass to even suggest that. The terrorist thing is over the top but it serves to illustrate that saying "well he's young" is a b.s. argument.

This exchange in the thread had to do with how to react if sano is guilty - do we cheer for the Twins? Boo sano? It had nothing to do with the truth of the assault. Please read for context and stop trying to control things.

Ten of the 911 hijackers were under age 23. Timothy McVeigh was 26. I'm not obligated to support people because they are young anymore than I'm required to say "boys will be boys". If these allegations prove true, anyone is absolutely justified in boycotting, booing and dismissing Miguel Sano in his role as a professional baseball player.

Yeah. That's the crime here. Her inability to tell time during a traumatic experience.

94% is a lot of guilty people. The fact you are focused on the 6% part is troubling.

Yeah I liked Gore a lot and Greene felt like a guy you might be kicking yourself about in five years but can't fault the Twins approach. They got a much more projectable player #1 overall and used the savings to get multiple live arms. The results may or may not work out but you have to like the process.

I've written 3-4 blog posts in my time here and there's a reason I haven't gotten more into it, though I enjoy writing. There just isn't enough payoff in a reasonable amount of time. If I were 21, I would have no problem - I was just sitting around drinking beer and watching the Twins so there'd be no issue writing some articles and then content checking them the next morning to make sure it was me talking and not the Hamms. But I'm in my 30s now and there's less free time (and less Hamms). The few blog posts I've done have gotten somewhere from 90-300 views and very little activity (understandable since they’re just random blog posts) so there isn’t much payoff to justify pissing off my wife by clacking away all on the computer all evening instead of spending some quality time massaging her bunions. Money doesn’t solve that, it’s making a splash that does. Some ideas for how to do make that easier: 1.) Tom Froemming showed that there’s an idea good enough that it can take over Twins Daily. He’d win Rookie of the Year and MVP for his daily Twins recaps this year. And I don’t think that was because the writing was so exceptional. Not that it wasn’t fine, just that wasn’t the reason we all clicked on that link first each morning. Tom found a gap in TD coverage and filled in admirably. Perhaps it would be useful to sit down and brainstorm out ideas for recurring Twins/baseball articles and then find people (or teams of 2-3 people) to write them regularly. These articles would have an express lane to the front page and get people interested in writing. 2.) There also needs to be a way for people to write a few articles but know that they have a good shot of hitting the front page. TD is a place of reputation and that can work to its advantage. Every time spycake comments on one of my comments, I’m both apprehensive (because he/she’s likely torn it apart with logic and reasoning) and excited (I said something worth spycake descending from his/her ivory tower to grapple with mere mortals). I’ve never seen a spycake article though. I imagine you aren’t going to get many because spycake works for NASA and is super busy but I imagine most people would read the two yearly spycake articles avidly. TD moderators likely have an understanding who the great, thoughtful, discussion-provoking, literate commenters are. It might be worth it for you all to make a list of them and send invitations to write an article or two for the front page express lane. Nothing breeds continued interest like success so getting the spycakes of the boards interested in writing could be great. 3.) An editorial board also wouldn’t be a bad idea. People get better with consistent, confidential feedback. Blog posts that aren’t up to snuff either get ignored or ridiculed. That’s not going to get someone to come back. It might be good to have an option when posting a blog for some private mailbox feedback. There are plenty of people on TD who aren’t going to write a lot but who might be willing to read 5 blog posts a day (on the bus, on the crapper) and fill out a quick survey or comment box with what works and what doesn’t. I’ve taught some high school in my day and would be totally into doing that. Plus, those editors are then more invested in the site and might synthesize an article or two. Or they might see a potential recurring feature and suggest it to the moderators. Or they might see that two writers are interested in the same thing and recommend they get in contact with one another. Great site. Thanks for all the work!

I think Mauer should and will make it. It'll take some time to build (year 5 or so?) but he's a top 10 catcher and that should get him in despite the later career injuries. I really hope so. Bet a happy hour with a Twins-hating friend that he'd make it in.

Maybe this is falling in love with prospects but I want to sign Darvish/Arietta/Cobb even if the last years of the deal are painful rather than trade for Archer or Cole or whomever. Prospects are the best.

The market rates are often awful though. Outside of signing the elite guys like Chapman, Jansen and co., so many of those contracts don't work out, even in the short term. Last year Mike Dunn got 3 years and $19 million and was awful in year 1 , Brad Ziegler and Junichi Tazawa each got 2 years and a combined $28 million from the Marlins to put up ERA+ of 85 and 71 respectively. In 2016, Tony Sipp and Antonio Bastardo were guys lots of people on TD wanted and they have collectively flushed $23 million down the tank. One year deals like the Twins have been doing are often just as successful when dealing with the pen. A bullpen is also very easy to supplement at the break - the Nats were a terrible pen team last year but made some moves to supplement that and turned it into a playoff strength - 2.16 ERA. Just because it starts out homegrown doesn't mean it ends homegrown. The Twins have enough fun young arms to throw some things at the wall, see what sticks and then supplement as needed. I'd rather see the Twins spend that money elsewhere. It might even help the pen - if they signed Darvish, for instance, one or more of the long line of starters competing for that spot might move to the pen. That would boost the pen anyways. Guys like May and Mejia might excel in the pen.

I'd like to trust the bevy of internal options and sign a high-upside guy to a one-year deal. Tons of young arms coming up. I don't see (or want) the Twins to commit long-term money to the pen and outside of that, I don't see how anyone they sign is more likely to take a step than the young guys they have. P.S. Long shot call you heard here first. Pressley starts out lights out and by early May is a set-up man. He takes over as closer by mid-June as Rodney falters.

Sad to see Jake Mauer move on. Hard to fathom why they couldn't find something with the MLB club. Anyone know if he resides in the Twin Cities or in Chattanooga? If the TC, really crazy they couldn't find something for him to do.

I'm a small hall guy so I'd say no Johan if I were running the whole shebang. But that would also involve me booting guys like Blyleven and Puckett and what not. Since that's not reality and we live in the present, he should be in. He's as good as many guys in the hall and he was one of the two or three most dominant pitchers for 6-7 years.

Naw, that wasn't a thing then.* He was relatively young and was truly a great pitcher. It was the Wins that did it. Really infuriating at the time. * I'd argue that Colon's "charm" has nothing to do with today. He's not a particularly friendly or affable guy. A good teammate and all but he's not charming. It's mainly that he's big and fat and old and Americans like that aged underdog narrative. Big Sexy doesn't hurt either.

Ridiculous. As rosters stood last year at this time, the Twins were in last place. Ditto once the season started. How did that turn out? Luckily, this isn't strat-o-matic baseball. The games still have to be played. SO much armchair quarterbacking. If the Twins trot out the exact same roster they did last year they'll have a good chance to make the playoffs. They have a young and deep lineup with lots of tantalizing upside and some fun late-season bats lurking in the mid-minors. The pen is young and unproven but bullpen performance is pretty variable and the arms have a lot of pop. The rotation isn't a strength but they have a depth of arms (Santana, Berrios, Mejia, Gibson, Slegers, Romero, Jorge, Gonsalves, Littel, May, Hughes) with enough upside to provide average starting pitching -- which very well could be enough for a powerful lineup. It's okay to want certain moves to be made but let's not write off the season before it's even begun.

To be fair, outside of signing a Darvish or trading for an ace pitcher, the Twins were never going to be big players in free agency. Their success next year will be dependent on (1.) Young players like Buxton, Rosario and Polanco building on last year (2.) Guys like Sano, Vargas and Kepler taking a step forward (3.) Dozier and Mauer replicating last year (4.) The long-awaited power pen wave cresting in the MLB pen (5.) At least one AAA starter giving the club a boost in late May/early June. If the Twins find an ace pitcher, great. Otherwise, tweaking out over falling behind in free agency is pretty pointless. The most important pieces for the Twins next year are already on the team and just need to perform. These are all piddly moves not worth this kind of epic winter grousing.

This assumes you can't trade a healthy Pineda. If the Twins have seven quality starters and no room for Pineda, they should be able to at the least get another team to take on that salary (and almost certainly get a piece or two back). Only way this is a bad signing is if he can't come back from TJ. But you have to take risks. Low cost, high upside move.

I'm a fan of just signing Arrieta. I know there are some concerns health-wise but he's got less mileage on his arm than most because of his slow development and all he costs is a second round pick. He also seems like a guy you can get for four years instead of going five or six. That contract might be rough the last year but that's the risk you take.

When your playoff odds are under 10% and you're team on the rise, that would be irresponsible. The front office shook off the temptation to blow things up and let the guys play while still getting some pitching depth for unneeded pieces. What are you referring to in the prospect part? Ynoa? He's a lottery ticket - it could come back to bite you but bad results doesn't mean the process is wrong. They got better prospects and more prospects out of the deal (basically Ynoa for Littell, Enns and Moya).

See and I think he's ranked way too high. He seems like a 4th OF type to me - I don't see him ever being an average starter. With his lack of pop and average OBP skills, he's got to hit over .300 to be an offensive plus. I just don't really see that happening. If he hits .270, he's got to be an elite defensive CF. He's fine out there but not elite.

Outside of trading legit prospects in the division for Justin Verlander, what addition was really going to make the Twins anything more than a team that loses in the division round? They traded marginal pieces that didn't hurt the Twins and resisted the urge to trade a Santana or Dozier who would likely have kept them from winning. Sometimes not making moves is a cause for celebration. What international talent have they missed out on? Marte had a vision problem and they made the smart choice to void that, especially since Ohtani's situation let them turn that into two young prospects. If we're mad because they didn't get Ohtani we're mad that they aren't a West Coast team. A lot of the criticism of Flavine seems pretty nitpicky. Some people just want to see the glass half empty.

I think this is the mistaken assumption you've made - you're assuming a causation when we don't even have a correlation. I think the Marte void was separate from going after Ohtani. No one else has gone after Marte (including the Yankees who have more money than the Twins and aren't in on Ohtani) so the eye thing must be serious (and with how cheap and state-of-the-art Lasik is today, it has to be something more than "he has 20/100 vision"). Plus, if the Twins liked Marte enough to give him top money, they wouldn't give it up for the very small chance they had of getting Ohtani to come to MN. There just seems to be way more of a story here. Assuming causation or correlation between the Marte voiding and the Ohtani sweepstakes seems like a stretch.